Aqueduct Building

Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public Works to document the boom of civil engineering projects undertaken by order of Napoleon III, Collard photographed newly built bridges, aqueducts, and railroads in both Paris and the countryside. While creating images of valve works leading to an aqueduct in the Vanne basin, Collard also captured the rural life that had settled alongside tributary springs in the villages of Malhortie, Noé, and Theil, seen in photographs nearby.