Oliver Sarony (1820-1879) arrived in England from his native Quebec in 1843 and worked as a daguerreotypist in various cities before settling in Scarborough on the coast of Yorkshire in 1857. There, he commissioned architects to design studios called Gainsborough House, comprising 98 rooms including a huge gallery enabling long-distance compositions. A major part of his business, which employed more than a hundred people, was the production of high quality photographs of paintings using the new carbon process. He also specialised in enlarged photographic portraits which were finished in oil paints. By 1871, his studio was said to be the largest photographic establishment in Europe, and by 1879 his annual turnover was estimated at £20 000 – most of it earned in the three-month tourist season. Upon dying of diabetes, he was buried in Scarborough cemetery. His business continued into the twentieth century under the name Sarony & Co.
