I have a large box of Victorian studio photographs at home, and I am slowly working my way through them: looking at them, scanning them, and seeing where they take me. Today they took me on a fascinating trans-continental journey in the company of John Jabez Edwin Mayall, pioneer photographer, trans-Atlantic entrepreneur, and friend of … Continue reading A Genius Too Great For Slaithwaite
Tag: Victorian Photographs
Thomas Boxell Of Brighton …
This small photograph of a seated woman is the work of a Victorian photographer called Thomas Boxell, who - at the time this photograph was taken in the late 1870s - was operating out of a studio in Pickering, Yorkshire. The story of Thomas Boxell is typical of so many of the semi-itinerant studio … Continue reading Thomas Boxell Of Brighton …
Instantaneous Sadness
There is a sadness about this woman of two centuries ago. It is as though the instantaneous camera of Mr. William Colton Pearson has captured her in a moment of doubt: not quite knowing what awaits in the new century that lies just around the next bend of Manchester Road.
Up And Down Bold Street With Arthur Medrington
Arthur Stanhope Medrington opened an artist studio at 128 Bold Street in Liverpool in the late 1870s. Like so many jobbing artists of the time, his work was largely confined to providing relatively cheap portraits of Victorian middle class families - the type of work and the type of market that the new invention of … Continue reading Up And Down Bold Street With Arthur Medrington
A Chocolate Wrapped In Black Crape
My first thought when I examined this old Carte de Visite from the Wolverhampton studios of Carl Holt was, who was the real woman under all these clothes? She has the look of a bleached milk chocolate wrapped in too many layers of coloured cellophane - or rather mourning-black crape. It is high summer outside, … Continue reading A Chocolate Wrapped In Black Crape
History Seeps In Lowestoft
I was in Lowestoft a couple of weeks ago and I probably walked past the studio where this portrait was taken 140 years ago. Like so many Victorian photographs, history seeps out of its sepia salts.
Turning Up The Prince Of Wales
This little albumen carte-de-visite of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (who was later to become King Edward VII) turned up in a job lot of old Victorian prints I bought the other week. It dates from about 1862 and comes from the Paris studios of Emile Desmaisons. The print is now over 150 years old … Continue reading Turning Up The Prince Of Wales
The Man With The Unenhanced Beard
The Man With The Unenhanced Beard (1890s) This Victorian Cabinet Card from the studio of John Leslie Thomas Shawcross of Blackburn had been touched-up by the photographer in order to enhance the gentleman's beard. I have digitally removed the enhancement to restore it to its natural beauty.
The Lost Frier Of Ball’s Pond Road
Lost Frier Of The Ball's Pond Road VICTORIAN CARTE DE VISITE : STUDIO OF R FRIER, LONDON An almost classic Victorian studio shot from the studios of a photographer called R Frier of Ball's Pond Road in North London. I have not been able to find anything about Mr Frier or his studio. It is … Continue reading The Lost Frier Of Ball’s Pond Road
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