The Abbé Henri Proust (1817 - 1897) received a telephoto lens for his birthday - he's 192 this year. This 600mm focal length apparatus allows him to take new pictures of his parish - now all flattened out.
The photograph below shows the grandiose 'dummy' gate that is on the east-west axis of the Porte de Loudun where it would otherwise enter the good cardinal's domainal park, looking eastward. The expert King's architect, Jacques Lemercier, realising that this gate was to be seen mainly from afar (anticpating the invention of telephoto lenses?), designed it in huge Mannerist propoprtions, almost ridiculous in scale when close up. A full iconic Richelieu gatehouse was impossible in this location, so this noble tuffeau upward arrow took its place. *see the map of the town for the location of this gate
Won't someone restore it, please (Barry + Anne)?
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