Biography provided by the Patrick Montgomery Collection (Archive Farms)
 
Pierre Ambroise Richebourg (1810-1875), a Paris optician with a shop on Quai de l'Horloge, learned photography directly from both Louis Daguerre and fellow optician Vincent Chevalier. He was the first person to make daguerrotype images using a solar microscope. During the Second Empire, Richebourg undertook many commissions on behalf of Napoleon III, becoming the official photographer of such events as the visit of Queen Victoria to Paris in 1856 and the baptism of the Prince Imperial that same year. In 1859 he traveled to Russia to illustrate a work by Théophile Gautier entitled Treasures of Art from Ancient and Modern Russia. His eclectic production ranged from views of official buildings including the Elysées Palace and the Hôtel de Ville to photographs of contemporary paintings in The annual Parisian Salons. He also collaborated with the police, taking pictures of crime scenes and criminals.