Born at Dijon in 1843, Paul-Adolphe (Rajon 1843–1888) started his career working for the photographer Pierre Joseph Meurisse in Metz. He went on to study at the school of design in Metz (1859–60) and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Rajon became a friend of Philippe Burty, Félix Bracquemond, and Louis-Charles-Auguste Steinheil, and in 1873 he received a commission through Bracquemond to go to England. Thereafter he visited the country for six months a year, making portrait etchings, including of Darwin and Tennyson. Both in France and England he enjoyed financial and critical success and, through his acquaintance with the American print dealer Frederick Keppel in New York, his fame also spread to the USA. He was awarded medals at the Paris Salons of 1869, 1870, and 1873, and at the Exposition Universelle of 1878.
