The Countess de Castiglione

Original photographs made during the countess’s lifetime are rare. Castiglione’s life quickly transformed into legend after her death, and her prolific photographic output became known thanks, in part, to prints like this one that were produced later. Photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson gave many of his negatives—including images of the countess—to his son-in-law Gaston Braun, who was also a studio photographer. Braun’s descendants continued the family business and, in the 1930s, printed a series of photographs of the countess from the original negatives.