Loudet, Bartolomé

French photographer born in 1823 and died in Argentina in 1887. After graduating as a chemist, he emigrated to Buenos Aires at the end of 1852, along with his compatriots, the painters Amadeo Jacques, Alfredo Cosson, and Alejandro Peyret, all graduates of the Normal School of Paris. In Buenos Aires, he worked as an assistant in Emilio Lahore's photographic studio until 1861 when he opened the Galería San Miguel at 344 Piedad Street (now Bartolomé Mitre), the first house of artistic photography in the city. Through his innovative profession, he had regular contact with prominent figures of the time who became his clients, such as Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Bartolomé Mitre, and Nicolás Avellaneda. By 1870, he had accumulated 27,000 negatives. In 1878, Alejandro Witcomb started working with him as an employee. After his death, Witcomb took over the business and moved it to Florida Street, to the studio he acquired from Christiano Junior. The photographic archive, which also passed on to Witcomb, would eventually become part of the collection of the National General Archive.