Attributed to Antoine-Samuel Adam-Salomon (French, 1811-1881) Jean-François Mocquard, 1850s Salt print from wet plate negative 10-1/2 x 8 inches (26.7 x 20.3 cm) (image/sheet) Titled in an unknown hand in pencil, verso. The velvet curtain in the background is often seen in Adam-Salomon's early work. Jean-François Mocquard was a lawyer, diplomat, subprefect and French politician, as well as the chief of staff for Napoleon III (1848-1864) and senator (1863-1864). He was born in 1791 in Bordeaux. Under the Restoration, he joined the Liberal opposition and argued as a lawyer for the four sergeants of La Rochelle (1822 ) and in the case of the black pin. A disease of the larynx forced him to give up his legal career and to take early retirement. In 1840, he joined the Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in London and then took over the management of "Le Commerce", a Bonapartist newspaper. He visited the prince during his confinement in Ham prison and became his official representative in Paris. In 1848, he was a member of the presidential campaign team of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte and became his secretary and chief of staff after his election as President of the French Republic. Mocquard participated in the preparation of the coup of December 2, 1851 by drafting the decree dissolving the National Assembly and the proclamation to the army and the people. During the 1850s, he wrote many great speeches for the Emperor Napoleon III and handled his correspondence. Promoted Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, he became Senator of the Second Empire in 1863. He died on December 9, 1864 and was buried in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved