About twenty-nine years old, Juozapas Tiškevičius — an officer of the Russian Empire's hussars, with epaulettes, medals, and a sword — sits for a portrait at L. Laffon's "Lord Byron" photography studio in Paris (13, Rue Lord Byron), c. 1864. The photograph is part of the photo album of Stefanija Sofija Šostakaitė-Tiškevičienė, an employee of the Kretinga estate, held at the Kretinga Museum (inv. no. KM IF 7021). It is the youngest likeness of this count anywhere in the exhibition — decades before the man we see in exhibits No. 51 and No. 39.
Juozapas Tiškevičius (Józef Tyszkiewicz, 1835–1891) owned the estates of Palanga, Izabelinas, Lentvaris, Kretinga, Kairėnai, Užutrakis, Dunilava and others, as well as palaces in Vilnius, and held the rank of colonel in the Russian Imperial hussars. He founded the Palanga resort, and at the Kretinga estate built Lithuania's first hydroelectric power plant and telephone line. He is buried in the Tiškevičius family chapel in Kretinga. With his wife Sofija Horvataitė (exhibit No. 51) he had twelve children, eight of whom survived to adulthood — among them Vladislovas (exhibit No. 38); in 1896, after Juozapas's death, the whole family sat for a group portrait together (exhibit No. 39).
The animation brings a single moment to life: the figure, staring straight into the lens, lowers his sword and extends his hand directly toward the viewer — as if the count had just noticed something and were now, wordlessly but decisively, pointing a finger right at whoever stands before him.