In May, 1860, following financial problems, Le Grey sets off, with Alexandre Dumas, for a trip to the Orient. The first phase takes them to Sicily. Le Gray, something of a precursor of the "photo-reporter", photographs Garibaldi, General Türr, and the ruins of Palermo. He then sets off for Beirut.   He follows the landing of French troops, sent there to protect the Maronite Christians massacred by the Druses. Flight to Egypt. After several months in Syria, he leaves for Egypt where he begins the most mysterious part of his life. He settles first in Alexandria, then in Cairo.     He receives orders from the Viceroy of Egypt and, while continuing to take photographs, takes up painting again.   Leaving only for a few months 1860, Le Gray was never to return to France. He died in poverty in Cairo, in 1884. Le Gray inspired a school. The extraordinary richness and diversity of French photography of the 1850's is, in large measure, due to the artists who were his students: Adrien Tournachon, Charles Nègre, Henri Le Secq, Olympe Aguado, Eugène Le Dien, Léon Méhédin…