Gustave Le Gray (1820 – 1884) has been called "the most important French photographer of the nineteenth century" because of his technical innovations in the still new medium of photography, his role as the teacher of other noted photographers, and the extraordinary imagination he brought to picture making.
Le Gray studied painting in the studio of Paul Delaroche, and made his first daguerreotypes by at least 1847. His real contributions—artistically and technically—however, came in the realm of paper photography, in which he first experimented in 1848. The first of his four treatises, published in 1850, boldly—and correctly—asserted that "the entire future of photography is on paper."
Here is an amazing collection of portrait photos that Le Gray took from the mid-19th century. Most of them are celebrities and famous people.
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| An Italian street musician, 1856 |
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| Auguste Clésinger, sculpteur, 1848 |
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| Céline Cerf, muse of fifteen and a half years, 1848 |
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| Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), wife of Emperor Napoleon III, 1856 |
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| Empress Eugénie (1826-1920), wife of Emperor Napoleon III, 1856 |
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