Fontaine Moliere. Albumen print, Getty Museum. Public domain photograph.

Born in Paris, Ernest Ladrey began his career as a photographer in the early 1850s. Ladrey was known for his portraits of prominent figures of his time, including politicians, artists and writers. In the 1860s, Ladrey became interested in the new field of stereoscopic photography. He produced many stereoscopic images of Paris and its landmarks, which were popular with tourists and collectors. Ladrey was also an early experimenter with colour photography. He worked with the Lumière brothers, who invented the first commercially successful colour photographic process, and produced some of the earliest colour photographs in France. Ladrey's work was widely exhibited during his lifetime and he won several awards for his photography. His images are now held in collections around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.