Concours agricole, Taureau de Jersey, 1856. Print on salted waxed paper mounted on cardboard, signed in the negative, captioned "Taureau de Jersey, Aged 27 months, presented by Mr. Michael Fowler Senior , at Little Bushey Farm, near Watford (England), 1st Prize in the Channel Islands Breeds Category, from Alderney & a ”below the image.

From 1855, Adrien Tournachon (known as Nadar Jeune) specialized in photographing farm animals – goats, merino sheep, cattle, horses for agricultural competitions or to produce prestige albums. This series was taken during the Universal Agricultural Competition of 1856. Tournachon’s prints served as models for illustrations, which were redesigned and otherwise embellished by such known painters as Rosa Bonheur and Constant Troyon. Apparently, the drawings were transferred onto a plate by a photomechanical process requiring major retouching; Riffaut (the know collaborator of Niepce de Saint Victor) was given this responsibility, but he died before finishing the work, and Baudement turned over the task to other engravers, including Charles Négre. The final results are so misleading that it is impossible to guess that the original models were photographs[1]