In 1856, Dr. Duchenne de Boulogne commissioned Adrien Tournachon to illustrate his book. His idea was to collaborate with the artist who had won first prize at the 1855 World's Fair for his "expressive heads" (facial expressions) series of Pierrots. Duchenne had been working since the 1830s on treating certain disorders with electricity. He wanted to demonstrate the possibility of recreating facial expressions by contracting facial muscles via a painless, superficial method of electrical galvanization. The plate shown here comes from Duchenne's private album, which he bequeathed to the Paris School of Beaux Arts.