[2] His father, a Frenchman descended from the Scottish Catholic Black family,[1] was Alexandre Blacque, of Moniteur Ottoman.

[4] Blak joined the Ottoman Foreign service with posts in Paris, France and Naples, Italy.

[1] In the mid-1850s Blak, sensing the rise of the United States, asked the Ottoman government to establish a diplomatic post in the U.S.; at the time the U.S. already had a minister to the empire.

Sinan Kuneralp, author of "Ottoman Diplomatic and Consular Personnel in the United States of America, 1867-1917," described this photograph as "one of America's most valuable pictorial documents" and what Blak "is best remembered [for] today".

[1] He became president of Pera Municipality (now Beyoğlu), where he established a system of public parks that got inspiration from Washington, DC.