Thèbes, Temple de Ramasseum, Colosses brisés

Émile Béchard remains a mysterious figure, primarily because of the signature "H. Béchard," which appears in the negatives of most of his landscape and architectural work, including in this view of the Ramesseum. Since the late 1980s, many historians had believed that there were in fact two photographers, Émile and "Henri" Béchard, both operating in Egypt. More recently, scholars have instead hypothesized that perhaps Émile adopted this second name to distinguish the different subjects of his various series (i.e. portraits versus monuments). The identification of a brother named Hippolyte Béchard, however, has led to a more logical explanation that Hippolyte sold and distributed Emile’s photographs in France. The situation, however, has been further complicated by a group of photographs sold in October 2015 at the chateau de Saint-Brisson in Saint Brisson-sur-Loire, France. Inscriptions on some of the prints indicate that Hippolyte Béchard was in Cairo in 1870, giving some credence to Ken Jacobson’s suggestion that Hippolyte Délié was not only Emile’s business partner but possibly also his brother, Hippolyte Béchard, who had, for some reason, changed his name. The shifting identities associated with the "Maison Béchard" are a prime example of the difficulties often associated with the attribution of 19th-century commercial photography.