 With this technique colours could be built up in the manner of some types of printmaking.According to an article in the 1892 "American Journal of Photography" by editor Julius Sachse, Thompson traveled to Paris in 1845 from New York without speaking any French and with an introduction from the Russian Consul in New York to the Russian Vice-Consul in Paris who in turn arranged an introduction to Russian photographer Sergei Lvovich Levitsky.Levitsky is quoted by Sachse as declaring Thompson's daguerreotypes were 'works of art'.