In France, the mid-19th century was a time of renewed interest in the nation’s medieval past—in literature, music, and especially architecture. Among the country’s preeminent architectural photographers, Édouard Baldus sold views of historic monuments to the government, captains of industry, and collectors of the new art. At the Gothic cathedral at Amiens, 75 miles north of Paris, he photographed the elaborately carved main portal emerging from the shadows and the restorer’s scaffolding. Fulfilling his dual goals of documentation and artistry, Baldus recorded the portal’s treasure trove of early 13th-century sculpture clearly, even as he bathed the whole in an atmosphere of 19th-century Romanticism.