Disdéri exploited his close connections with the highest ranks of the French Government to build up a spectacular business, processing at its peak up to 200 sitters a day. Here we see Napoleon's nephew Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (1822-91), commonly known as Prince Napoleon. He became a pretender to the throne after Napoleon III's only son died in 1879.
André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri (French, 1819-1889)
In 1854 the Frenchman Disdéri patented the carte-de-visite (visiting card) photograph. For a time he was the most celebrated Parisian photographer and his wealth was the talk of the city. A German visitor described his studio as 'the Temple of Photography - a place unique in its luxury and elegance'. Disdéri is reported to have sold three to four thousand francs' worth of portraits a day. Because of its ease and speed of use, his invention began to be imitated the world over. However, when he died in a public hospital in Paris in 1889, he was deaf, blind and destitute.
