Louis-Amédée Mante was a pioneering photographer, chemist and inventor, born in 1826, and active around the turn of the century. He collaborated artistically with his son-in-law Edmond Goldschmidt, a wealthy young photographer; the pair were initially influenced by Neo-Classical themes which they expressed through the use of elaborate costumes, intricate backdrops and often exotic props. In later series they tried their hand at posed tableaus.

Mante launched the AM Patent marque to brand many series of nude postcards, which he marketed in the period leading up to the Great War. 

If AM Patent coloured postcards are to be seen as a precursor of the marques that followed after the war, then the obvious differences should also be noted. Mante and Goldschmidt, being influenced by the classical tradition, used styling and poses more reminiscent of oil paintings than of Paris nightclubs, boudoirs, beaches or other places charged with sexual possibility. Their aim was more artistic – to express an idea of beauty in classical terms.