BALTARD, Louis-Pierre

French architect and engraver. He was originally a landscape painter, but in his travels through Italy was so much struck with the beauty of the Italian buildings, that he changed his profession and devoted himself to architecture. In his new occupation he achieved great success, and was selected to prepare the plans for some of the largest public edifices in Paris. His reputation, however, is chiefly based on his great skill in engravingGLOSSARYA print made from a metal plate that has had a design cut into it with a sharp point. Ink is smeared over the plate and then wiped off, the ink remaining in the etched lines being transferred when the plate is pressed very firmly onto a sheet of paper.. Among the best known of his plates are the drawings of Paris (Paris el ses monuments, 2 vols. fol., 1803), the engravings for Denon's Égypte, the illustrations of Napoleon's wars (La Colonne de la grande armée), and those contained in the series entitled the Grand prix de l'architecture, which for some time he carried on alone.

Two of his children were also architects. Of these the more important was Victor Baltard (1805-1874).