Between 1839 and 1876 the Ottomans issued a series of reforms (the Tanzimat) that brought changes to Beirut's political and administrative roles. The reforms, along with low import duties for foreign merchants, the establishment of the Ottoman Imperial Bank in 1850, the building of the new wharf, the construction of the Beirut-Damascus road and the population surge following the 1860 Lebanon conflict made Beirut the unrivaled port city of the Levant. The flourishing city attracted a host of families migrating from Aleppo, Damascus, Tripoli, Acre, Sidon and Mount Lebanon to join the growing community of Beirut's merchant families. Corm sought the favors and patronage of this class of bourgeois merchants when he settled back in Beirut in 1878. To appeal to the Beiruti nobility, Corm engaged Félix Bonfils' studio to take a photograph of him applying the finishing touches to Pope Pius IX's portrait and used this photograph as his calling card. By using a business card of him portraying the pope, Corm aimed to sell for a bourgeois artist whose artistic aptitude and western education was endorsed by the foremost potico-religious leader of the time.