Having his subjects sit for him allowed him to hone his skill for observation, resulting in wittily accurate portrayals that seemed to nail their personality and character traits. His genuine fascination for those he depicted would prove invaluable when he turned to photography in 1854, having first installed his artist brother Adrien in the profession. “He had figured out that people were willing to pay for images of famous people and this was a great tool as the images were quickly replicable and they had a novelty value,” says Begley.