Portrait of Adah Isaacs Menken

In his time, Napoleon Sarony was considered one of the world’s greatest portrait photographers. He specialized in portraits of actors, which he mass produced as cheap cartes-de-visite, and other types of cards. Their popularity with the public reflected the new interest in theater and celebrity that emerged in America after the Civil War. Sarony, born in Canada, began his career in New York as a lithographer but, at a time when the art of photography was still very new, went to Europe for training. He established his first studio in New York City in 1866, but in only a few years was able to open a larger studio in the city’s Union Square.