It’s a fascinating game to compare images of the Paris of yesterday with those of the Paris we know today, especially if you prefer the “imagiers” to the painter. The imagiers were the modest and conscientious creators of maps and engravings of Paris. If only a handful of images remain of Paris in the Middle Ages, what an incomparable choice from the 16th century onwards. The Paris of Israël Sylvestre and Mathieu Meryan, with their rural landscapes and vanished marvels, are awe-inspiring. Then the reign of engraving came to an end, the reign of photography began, and we left the world of imagiers for that of Marville, who was the great photographer of Paris in the middle of the last century.