Napoléon Sarony | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Self-portrait, late 19th century | |
| Born | (1821-03-09)March 9, 1821 |
| Died | November 9, 1896(1896-11-09) (aged 75) New York City, U.S. |
| Known for | Photography |
Napoléon Sarony (March 9, 1821 – November 9, 1896)[1][2] was an Americanlithographer andphotographer. He was a highly popularportrait photographer, best known for his portraits of the stars of late-19th-century Americantheater. His son,Otto Sarony, continued the family business as a theater and film star photographer.
Sarony was born in 1821 inQuebec, then in the British colony ofLower Canada, and moved toNew York City around 1833. He worked as an illustrator forCurrier and Ives before joining with James Major and starting his own lithography business, Sarony & Major, in 1843. In 1845, James Major was replaced in Sarony & Major by Henry B. Major, and the firm continued operating under that name until 1853. From 1853 to 1857, the firm was known as Sarony and Company, and from 1857 to 1867, as Sarony, Major & Knapp. Sarony left the firm in 1858 and traveled abroad for the next eight years. During that time, he learned the photographic portrait business from his brotherOliver Sarony who operated a popular portrait studio in Scarborough, England. Sarony established his own first portrait studio at 66 New Street in Birmingham, England around 1865. In June 1866, he returned to New York City. His first U.S. photographic studio was located at 680 Broadway. In 1876, he moved his operations to what became his more famous studio building at 37Union Square.[1] Photographers would pay their famous subjects to sit for them, and then retain full rights to sell the pictures. Sarony reportedly paid the internationally famous stage actressSarah Bernhardt $1,500 to pose for his camera, equivalent to $52,494 in 2024.[3] In 1894, he published a portfolio of prints entitled "Sarony's Living Pictures".
Included among the thousands of people that came into Sarony's world were many distinguished people, such as American Civil War GeneralWilliam T. Sherman and literary figuresSamuel Clemens (Mark Twain),Lew Wallace andOscar Wilde. Sarony also took a photograph of the great American inventorNikola Tesla that was later engraved by T. Johnson.
In 1888, Sarony photographedWilliam T. Sherman, three years before he died in 1891. Sarony's photograph would be used as a model for the engraving of thefirst Sherman Postage stamp.[4]
Sarony took numerous photographs ofSamuel Clemens (Mark Twain).[3] Clemens and Sarony were in the same social circles and shared many acquaintances. They both belonged to theLotos Club in New York City. Sarony helped in the founding of theSalmagundi Club, an association of artists, and was also a member of the Tile Club, whose members included well-known artists and journalists. In 1883, English authorWilkie Collins dedicated his anti-vivisection bookHeart and Science to Sarony. In 1884, Sarony was a participant in an April Fool's joke played on Clemens whenGeorge Washington Cable arranged for 150 of Clemens's friends to write to him simultaneously, requesting his autograph. As part of the joke, no stamps or envelopes were to be provided for a reply.
One of Sarony's portraits of writer Oscar Wilde became the subject of aU.S. Supreme Court case,Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony 111 U.S. 53 (1884), in which the Court upheld the extension ofcopyright protection to photographs. Sarony sued Burrow-Giles after it used unauthorized lithographs ofOscar Wilde No. 18 in an advertisement, and won a judgment for $610 ($21,000 in modern dollars[5]) that was affirmed onappeal by theSecond Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Sarony later photographed the Supreme Court itself, to celebrate the centennial of the federal judiciary in 1890.[3][6]
Sarony was married twice. His first wife, Ellen Major Sarony, died in 1858; his second wife, Louisa "Louie" Long Thomas Sarony (1838-1903), reportedly shared his tendency towards eccentricity and preference for outlandish dress.[1] She rented elaborate costumes that she wore during her daily afternoon walk throughWashington Square, wearing them once before returning them.
His brother,Oliver François Xavier Sarony (1820–1879), was also a portrait photographer, working primarily in England, who died in 1879. Napoleon's son,Otto (1850–1903), continued the family name for a few years until his own death in 1903.
Sarony was buried inGreen-Wood Cemetery inBrooklyn.[3]
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