André Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri
1859-1861
Bertall

Carte de visite
Paul Frecker
'Bertall' was the pseudonym of Vicomte Albert d'Arnoux, Comte de Limoges-Saint-SaÙns, who was a draughtsman, wood engraver, lithographer, printmaker and illustrator. He was one of the most prolific graphic artists of the second half of the nineteenth century.
 
He took the name 'Bertall' - an approximate anagram of his forename - at the suggestion of Honoré de Balzac, who probably also influenced him to work as an illustrator and caricaturist after he had finished his training under Drolling. He was chosen by the publishing house of Barba to illustrate the works of Fenimore Cooper, Paul de Kock and Alphonse Karr and he is reputed to have engraved some 3,600 plates for Barba alone. He also contributed to many journals, designed several works for children, and drew a certain number of posters.
 
From 1855 until the mid-1860's, he collaborated with the photographer Hippolyte Bayard in a photographic business, the primary output of which was portraiture in the carte-de-visite format. From 1869 to 1870 he edited the review Le Soir and in April 1971, during the Commune, he founded the satirical journal Le Grelot, which attacked the Communards. His reactionary views were further expressed in the illustrated Types de la Commune (Paris, 1871). He received the Croix de la Légion d'Honneur in 1875. He died in Paris in 1882.
 
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