Émile de Girardin, the journalist nicknamed the “Napoleon of the Press” for his founding of the mass-circulation daily La Presse in 1836, sits for this carte de visite portrait by Ch. Reutlinger’s Paris studio at 21 Boulevard Montmartre. His newspaper pioneered the low-cost, advertiser-funded model that transformed French journalism into a popular medium.

He is shown in half length, head turned slightly from the camera, pince-nez spectacles balanced on his nose and secured by a cord looped to his waistcoat. His hair is combed close and parted to one side, and he wears a light-colored coat over a waistcoat and plaid bow tie, a watch chain visible at his buttonhole.

Girardin’s founding of La Presse in 1836 broke with the subscription-dependent press of his day by halving the price and relying on advertising revenue, a model that proved so disruptive it led to a fatal duel with rival editor Armand Carrel that same year. He went on to found and direct several other papers, including La Liberté, La Petit Journal, and La France, and served as a deputy and senator over a long, politically mutable career until his death in 1881.

The reverse is inscribed in pencil, “Emile de Girardin” and again “de Girardin,” with the number “7” in a boxed notation, over the purple distribution stamp of Culver Service, 205 East 42nd Street, New York, restricting the image to one-time reproduction, and the printed studio imprint of Ch. Reutlinger, Photographe, 21 Boulevart Montmartre, 21, et 112 Rue Richelieu, 112, Paris, with the archival notations “2/21/12,” “COLAEZ,” and “Eb.”