E. APPERT (19th century). Photographic print pasted on cardboard representing a woman in an interior. Signed and dated 1869. 58 x 46 cm. Traces of humidity. The Appert brothers, Eugène (1831-1890) and Ernest-Charles (1830-1905) were famous photographers for their pictures of the Paris Commune of 1871. They initially specialised in portrait photography of political figures from all walks of life (sovereigns, nobles, MPs, senators, magistrates); Ernest was one of the first to use photomontage (Blois trial in July 1870, dealing with various plots against the life of Napoleon III, in which Gustave Flourens and Eugène Protot were implicated). During the 1870 war, Appert took photographs of French and Prussian officers. One or other of the brothers worked for the Ministry of Justice as an expert for the Tribunal de la Seine, as a court photographer, taking many photographs of political prisoners. During the Paris Commune, Eugène sided with the Versaillais against the Communards. On behalf of Thiers and the Versailles regime, he took a large number of photos of Versailles' repression, both in the field and in the Chantiers and Satory prisons in Versailles. He used the principle of photomontage to give the impression of having photographed a real action, for propaganda purposes. In the weeks following the events, he produced a series of photomontages entitled Crimes of the Commune, showing in particular the execution of hostages in the Roquette prison, the execution of the Dominicans in Place d'Italie, and the execution of the hostages in the villa on Rue Haxo, all perpetrated during Bloody Week. He also photomontaged the execution of Louis Rossel, Pierre Bourgeois and Théophile Ferré at the Satory camp by the Versailles army.