The other day I was browsing through the "Dossier Photographies sur le Second Empire réunies par l'abbé Misset" at ARCHIM - Service interministériel des archives de France and I came across some of the hand-painted photographs of the Countess of Castiglione by Louis Pierson that I hadn't seen. They may well be in the book by Pierre Apraxine and Xavier Demange, La Divine Comtesse: Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000) but not having a copy I'm unable to check and I'm sure that some of you will let me know. The collection of the portraits of the Countess de Castiglione at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is extraordinary and I felt it would be enjoyable to give them another showing.