The Ministers of France

In the early 1860s, Disdéri hit upon a moneymaking scheme which enabled him to profit a second time from the sale of celebrity portraits he had already taken and previously sold as individual portraits. By cropping the photographs into an oval format, grouping them together according to a particular theme and rephotographing the composition, he exploited the photographs anew and enabled his customers to buy seven, eight, thirteen twenty-three, or more portraits for the price of one. These cartes proved to be a popular novelty in market that was fast becoming saturated.

This particular example shows the Ministers of France, or at least, the thirteen who had graced Disdéri’s studio with a sitting. From the top left, the men are: Jules Baroche, le duc de Morny, Eugène Rouher, comte Walewski, Marshal Randon, comte de Chasseloup-Laubat, Adolphe Billault, Charles-Alphonse Delangle, comte de Persigny, Pierre Magne, duc de Padoue, Ernest de Royer and Adolphe de Forcade de la Roquette.

Another, smaller medallion appears outside the arrangement of ministerial portraits, this one in the lower right-hand corner of the print; it shows the photographer himself.