Thomas Sully began Biddle in July 1826; Byron, probably a month or two earlier. In 1826, just before beginning Byron and Biddle, Sully completed Lafayette and Napoleon. Americans of 1826 considered Nicholas Biddle a figure hardly less central than Lafayette, Napoleon, or Byron, and Byron and Biddle constitute no more unusual a pair than Lafayette and Napoleon. President of the Second Bank of the United States from 1822 to 1836, Biddle guided the nation's finances during a crucial period in its history. Biddle's Wanderjahre, from 1805 to 1807, counterpoint Byron's from 1809 to 1811. Like Byron, Biddle toured Europe sporting military credentials. Biddle, like Byron fascinated by Greece, decided in 1806 to see for himself that classical land. Biddle was only the second American to go to Greece. Biddle's heady experiences in France during the first flush of Napoleon's empire kept alive his initial enthusiasm for the man.