This view of the Cathedral of Rouen is by the American Louis Orr, who grew up in Hartford, CT, and who studied briefly at The Art Students League in New York. He came from a family of engravers - both his father and grandfather were among New York's finest engravers, and it's likely he assisted them as a boy. He travelled to Paris in 1906 at the age of twenty-seven, joining the studio of Jean Paul Laurens at the Academie Julian, and was quickly recognized as one of that city's premiere painter-etchers during the twilight years of the Belle Epoque, when he specialized in architectural views.

The print shows the Cour des Libraires, the Booksellers' Court, with the Portail des Libraires beyond. During the Middle Ages, books were produced by hand, usually by monks and ecclesiastical scribes - it's not surprising that a cathedral would be the place where one would acquire them. What is remarkable about this print is the line work, which is entirely freehand. It is clear that Orr is less concerned with a literal description of the cathedral than with an evocation of its size, scale, and overall aesthetic effect.

On close inspection, it's impossible to find a precise drawing of anything, and yet, despite his lack of formal education in architecture, Orr's powers of observation were formidable, producing an absolutely credible rendition of the building's statuary and masonry work. His etchings of this period were all of a piece: each paid homage to a culture and artistic sensibility that was fast succombing to the sudden, unwelcome, and disruptive, changes brought about by new modes of technology, mechanization, and artistic thought.