"Bey" was not a surname but rather a courtesy title recognized and sanctioned by the Ottoman government to designate a man as being the son of a Pasha.

He entered the Ottoman diplomatic service in 1856, serving as one of the plenipotentiaries negotiating the end to the Crimean War, and then as ambassador to Athens and Saint Petersburg, on which posts he began collecting art.

[3] He also acquired Le Bain turc (The Turkish Bath) from Ingres and other works by Delacroix, Troyon, Daubigny, Meissonier, Corot, Rousseau and Gérôme.

Works known to have been owned by Halil Şerif Pasha include: In January 1868 he sold off his art collection just before leaving to become Ottoman ambassador to Vienna, thus getting out of Paris only two years before the Franco-Prussian War.

Some sources record his death as being due to heatstroke while seated on a horse during Abdul Hamid II's accession parade.