His son, Otto Sarony, continued the family business as a theater and film star photographer.

Sarony was born in 1821 in Quebec, then in the British colony of Lower Canada, and moved to New York City around 1833.

[1] Photographers would pay their famous subjects to sit for them, and then retain full rights to sell the pictures.

Sarony reportedly paid the internationally famous stage actress Sarah Bernhardt $1,500 to pose for his camera, equivalent to $50,867 in 2023.

In 1883, English author Wilkie Collins dedicated his anti-vivisection book Heart and Science to Sarony.

[1] She rented elaborate costumes that she wore during her daily afternoon walk through Washington Square, wearing them once before returning them.

His brother, Oliver François Xavier Sarony (1820–1879), was also a portrait photographer, working primarily in England, who died in 1879.