CLOSE UP & PERSONAL: VICTORIANS & THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS
SHOWCASE GALLERY
Introduction
The advent of photography in 1839 catapulted Victorian society into a new age of
science, art and leisure. Previously only the wealthy could possess a painted
portrait. Photography introduced a cheaper way to own a likeness, democratising
this privilege.
Close Up & Personal explores some of the ways in which early photography was
consumed by a society that became obsessed. A variety of forms emerged
including the daguerreotype, the carte-de-visite, family photograph albums and
stereoscopes. The industry boomed, the celebrity was born and leisure in the
drawing room was never the same again.
The lighting has been adjusted to protect these fragile objects. Please do not take
photographs, except in the photo booth. Thank you for your understanding.
Clockwise from top
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
15 May 1860, Buckingham Palace
J J E Mayall
Carte-de-visite albumen print
William Holman Hunt
c.1890
Herbert Rose Barraud (1845 – 1896)
Cabinet card
Seated Woman Reading
Date and photographer unknown
Ambrotype
Seated Woman
Date and photographer unknown
Ambrotype
Group of two unnamed chess players and a woman
Date unknown
Antoine Claudet (1797-1867)
Daguerreotype
The Brian May Collection
Portraits of Caroline Cooper and her eldest daughter Mary Cooper
Date unknown
William Edward Kilburn (1818-1891)
Daguerreotype
The Brian May Collection
G F Watts posed in front of a temporary screen
c.1890 -1904
Photographer unkown
Glass plate negative
Sir Henry Taylor
Date and photographer unknown
Albumen print
Watts Gallery’s photographic collection is formed predominantly from three
sources: the personal photographs of George Frederic and Mary Watts;
photographs by Frederick Hollyer of G F Watts’s paintings; and the Rob Dickins
Collection of Victorian photographs and letters.
We are grateful for the generous support of the London Stereoscopic Company.
Founded around 1854, the LSC became the largest retailer of stereoscopic
equipment in Europe, later adapting to accommodate the fashion for the carte-devisite. The company was dissolved in 1922. In 2008 the LSC was re-established
under the new management of Brian May and Elena Vidal, seeking to promote the
magic of stereo cards to a modern audience.
All objects in this exhibition are from the Watts Gallery collection unless otherwise
stated.
The Rise of the Celebrity
As photography developed it became possible to create multiple prints from one
negative image. The most popular example was the carte-de-visite. Designed to be
the same size as a traditional calling card, it allowed people to exchange and
possess an image of anyone they desired.
Copyright law stated that if the sitter did not pay for their portrait, the
photographer owned the image. As a result, studios were able to print large
volumes of photographs of famous figures and distribute them easily. In 1861 when
Prince Albert died, 70,000 photographs of him were sold in one week.
The obsession for collecting became known as cartomania. The carte-de-visite
allowed famous figures to be displayed in homes alongside relatives. Through
photography, scientists, artists and actresses became as recognisable as the royal
family. Photography introduced the celebrity into our homes.
Victorian celebrities
Photography created celebrity culture as we know it today. The new technology
allowed far more people to become recognisable faces. Celebrities became a kind
of currency, as their carte-de-visite images were collected and exchanged.
New portraits of the leading celebrities were constantly being made, feeding the
huge demand. The actress Ellen Terry (the first wife of George Frederic Watts), for
example, was one of the most photographed women of the nineteenth century.
Each of Terry’s roles required a new portrait for promotion in Britian and abroad. In
1894 it was reported that ‘Miss Ellen Terry’s photographs are in almost every
window’.
Sitters are listed in columns, left to right, triple space to indicate the end of a
column
Ellen Terry as ‘Juliet’
c.1879
Window & Grove
Cabinet Card
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
1863
Lewis Carroll and London Stereoscopic Company
Cabinet Card
William Morris
1877
London Stereoscopic Company
Carte-de-visite
Frederic, Lord Leighton
1860s
London Stereoscopic Company
Carte-de-visite
Ruth Herbert
1865
Southwell Brothers
Carte-de-visite
Sir John Everett Millais
Early 1860s
John & Charles Watkins
Carte-de-visite
George du Maurier
1870s
London Stereoscopic Company
Carte-de-visite
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
c.1857
Attributed to Lewis Carroll
Carte-de-visite
Sir William Harcourt
1870s
R. W. Thrupp
Carte-de-visite
William de Morgan
Undated
London School of Photography
Carte-de-visite
John Ruskin
1863
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
William Holman Hunt
c.1865
London Stereoscopic Company
Carte-de-visite
Ruth Herbert
Unknown
Caldesi, Blandford & Co.
Carte-de-visite
Algernon Swinburne
c.1865
Elliott & Fry
Carte-de-visite
Ford Madox Brown
c.1864
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
William Powell Frith
Mid-1860s
Window & Bridge
Carte-de-visite
Charles Dickens
1867
Gurney & Son
Carte-de-visite
Charles Darwin
1865-66
Ernest Edwards
Carte-de-visite
Victorian celebrities
Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White, wrote of the ‘various states of
photographic suffering’. Although the process of being photographed might be
agonising, he found the results compelling. In reaction to the Royal Academy
Exhibition of 1857 he declared: ‘If this be portrait painting, how much preferable are
the daguerreotypes in the shop windows’.
David Livingstone
c.1857
J.J.E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Valentine Cameron Prinsep
Late 1860s
Photographer Unknown
Carte-de-visite
Ruth Herbert
Unknown
Caldesi, Blandford & Co.
Carte-de-visite
Michael Faraday
1857
Maull & Polyblank
Carte-de-visite
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
c.1890
Ernest Herbert Mills
Carte-de-visite
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1864
Carjat & Co.
Carte-de-visite
John Singer Sargent
c.1880s
William Wright
Carte-de-visite
William Makepeace Thackeray
1863
Cundall, Downes & Co.
Carte-de-visite
Thomas Carlyle
1860s
Elliott & Fry
Carte-de-visite
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones
c.1864
John & Charles Watkins
Carte-de-visite
Wilkie Collins
1874
Napoleon Sarony
Carte-de-visite
George Cruikshank
1860s
John & Charles Watkins
Carte-de-visite
John Herschel
1860s
Maull & Polyblank
Carte-de-visite
Sir Francis Dicksee
1893
W. & D. Downey
Carbon Print
Robert Whitehead
1860-1870s
Augustus Frederick Lafosse
Carte-de-visite
Elizabeth Thompson (Lady Butler)
1874
Fradelle & Marshall
Carte-de-visite
Myles Birket Foster
c.1864
Downes & Co.
Carte-de-visite
William Macready
Mid-1860s
Antoine Claudet
Carte-de-visite
Sir Ellis Ashmead Bartlett
1881
Elliott & Fry
Cabinet card
The Royal Family
Photography was at first treated with caution by the upper classes, as there was
uncertainty over whether it was a science or an art, socially acceptable or uncouth.
Any fears over the respectability of photography were ended by the Royal family’s
embrace of the medium. In 1860 the photographer John Jabez Edwin Mayall was
given permission to photograph Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children.
The result was the Royal Album, a set of fourteen cartes-de-visite which became a
great best-seller. The Royal family had joined the new culture of celebrity.
Princess Beatrice
c.1870s
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Prince Victor and Prince George
1870
Russell & Sons
Carte-de-visite
Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh with their Eldest Son
1875
Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
Maharajah Duleep Singh
1861
J. J. E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Princess Beatrice
c.1880
Attributed to Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
Children of the Prince of Wales
1871
Hills & Saunders
Cabinet Card
Princess Helena and Prince Christian
1865
Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
‘Four Generations’ (Queen Victoria with the future kings Edward VII, George V and
Edward VIII)
1894
W. & D. Downey
Carbon Print
Nasser al-Din, Shah of Persia
1870s
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria and Princess Beatrice
1860s
Ghémar Frères
Carte-de-visite
Princess Alexandra of Wales
c.1860s
Le Jeune
Carte-de-visite
Prince and Princess of Wales Engagement Photograph
1862
Ghémar Frères
Carte-de-visite
Napoleon III, Emperor of France
1860s
London Stereoscopic Company
Carte-de-visite
Princess Alice of Hesse
1861
J. J. E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Prince and Princess of Wales and Prince Victor
1865
Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
Princess Louise
1870
Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
Princess Beatrice
1882
Alexander Bassano
Cabinet Card
Prince Alfred of Edinburgh
c.1860
J. J. E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria
c.1865
Bingham
Carte-de-visite
The Royal Family
Copyright law stated that if the sitter did not pay for their portrait, the studio
owned the image. As a result, studios were able to print large volumes of
photographs of famous figures and distribute them easily.
In 1861 when Prince Albert died, 70,000 photographs of him were sold in one
week. Between 1860 and 1862 an estimated 3.5 million cartes-de-visite of Queen
Victoria were purchased.
Edward VII when Prince of Wales
1860s
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Grand Duchess Marie of Edinburgh
1876
Sergey Lvovich Levitsky
Carte-de-visite
Prince Albert
c.1860
Mason & Co.
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria
1898
Unknown
Photograph mounted on paper, signed ‘Victoria RG, July 1898’
Princess of Wales and her Children
1870s
Georg E. Hansen
Carte-de-visite
Princes Arthur and Leopold
1863
Ghémar Frères
Carte-de-visite
Edward VII when Prince of Wales
1866
J. Russell & Sons
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
1860
J. J. E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Princess of Wales
c.1868
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Princess Beatrice
c.1870
Hills & Saunders
Carte-de-visite
Prince Albert
1860
J.J.E. Mayall
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria and a grandchild
1868
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Alexandra, Princess of Wales
1866
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Alexandra, Princess of Wales with two Princes on a Pony
1866
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Alexandra, Princess of Wales
c.1865-70
Unknown
Carte-de-visite
Princess Beatrice
1882
Alex Bassano
Carte-de-visite
Queen Victoria
1860
Southwell Brothers
Carte-de-visite
Princess Beatrice
c.1865
Russell & Sons
Carte-de-visite
Prince and Princess Charles of Denmark
1896
W. & D. Downey
Carte-de-visite
Walter Crane
1891
Herbert Rose Barraud (1845-1896) and Sir Emery Walker (1851-1933)
Carbon print
Frederic, Lord Leighton
c.1890
Walery, London
Albumen print
Leighton was one of the great figures of Victorian art, remembered for his
mythological and neo-classical paintings. Leighton was President of the Royal
Academy when this photograph was taken. He signed it as a gift for the
academician Thomas Sidney Cooper.
BALCONY
Photocollage
In the 1860s and 1870s it became a popular pastime to create ‘scrapbook’ albums
using images of family members and celebrities. People could use photographs as
raw material from which to create their own worlds, enhancing them with colourful
watercolour motifs and borders.
Comparing and admiring these collages in the drawing room created a new form
of leisure and entertainment. The theatricality of the photocollage made it a social
performance, creating fictional relationships and situations.
Some people frowned upon the manipulation of photographs, which were prized
for their factual accuracy. The photography critic A H Wall praised the creation of
scenes in front of the camera using models and different lenses, ‘but not scissors
and the paste pot!’
Photograph album, decorated by Mary Fraser Tytler
c.1865-67
Mary Fraser Tytler (later Mary Watts) (1849-1938)
Digitised album of photographs with additions in watercolour with pen and ink
This album is the earliest surviving work attributed to Mary Watts. She created
these witty and imaginative watercolour settings between the ages of 15 and 18.
Mary used a combination of family photographs and collected cartes-de-visite of
notable figures, including Tennyson and Queen Victoria. Her early artistic skill can
clearly be seen in the ways in which she uses architectural features and
perspective to change the appearance of the original photographs.
Visit Watts Studios to see the original album on display.
A new leisure activity formed from the manipulation of photographs, but it was not
limited to albums. Photographs were also used for decoration on more practical
items such as invitations and bookmarks. People would also experiment with
tinting photographs and adding variations of colour.
Invitation from Mr & Mrs S C Hall
1874
Robinson & Cherrill, Tunbridge Wells
Photographs mounted on card
Samuel Carter Hall was the founder and editor of the Art Journal. This invitation is
signed by both Hall and his wife Anna Maria. The use of photography suggests the
confident embrace of technology on the part of a leading Victorian art journalist.
Bookmark featuring King Frederick III of Prussia
Date and photographer unknown
Photograph mounted on card
E and A Woods at 1 year and 8 months old
c.1860s
Chancellor (Dublin)
Overpainted carte-de-visite
EXHIBITION GALLERY
The Photography Studio
In 1851 there were a dozen photography studios in London. By 1861 there were over
200.
When you visited a studio you would wear your best clothes: the portrait would
most likely be given to loved ones or taken as a celebration. The studio would
often resemble a greenhouse, with skylights to allow in as much natural light as
possible. Artificial lights were not generally used until the twentieth century.
The studio would be furnished as a respectable middle-class drawing room, with
drapery, paintings and plaster busts. You would be seated in front of a backdrop,
often of a landscape. You might be presented with props that reflect your
occupation. The photographer would settle you in a chair with a headrest. This was
to ensure that your head did not move, as the exposure time would last several
minutes in the early years of photography. In the next room, studio staff would be
hunched over desks retouching the prints to ensure that you are satisfied with
your purchase.
This Victorian engraving shows a portrait session from the point of view of the
photographer. The scene is lit only by natural light, admitted in large quantities
through windows and skylights, and controlled by blinds and reflectors. To ensure
she remains still, the sitter’s head is braced by a neck-clamp attached to her chair.
A backdrop with landscape imagery forms the portrait’s background, while other
furniture and props suggest the atmosphere of a middle-class drawing room.
The Misses Dene – Dorothy, Elizabeth Ellen, Kathleen Blanche and Isabelle Helene
1893
W & D Downey
Carbon print
Unknown female of the Dalziel family
c.1880s
Lock & Whitefield
Cabinet card
Alexandra, Princess of Wales
c.1865
Southwell Brothers
Carte-de-visite
Edward, Prince of Wales
c.1865
Southwell Brothers
Carte-de-visite
Miss Neil
c. 1870s-80s
Ross & Thomson
Carte-de-visite
Countess Lilian Hoyos
c.1880
Carlo Zamboni
Cabinet card
Jack Whitehead
1864
W. Scott (Ilkley)
Cabinet card
Traditional portrait painting placed great emphasis upon the sitter’s social
standing. This was achieved through architectural settings, elaborate props and
formal costumes. Photographic portraiture dispensed with most of these elements,
although simple objects, such as books, might be used to suggest a professional
status.
The photographic portrait emphasised the sitter’s human uniqueness, opening up
endless possibilities for the expression of a more individualised society.
Mr Turner
Film, 2014
Directed by Mike Leigh
Film length: 6 minutes
Full film available on DVD and Blu Ray
In these scenes, set in the late 1840s, the artist J M W Turner (1775-1851) is having
his photograph taken at J J E Mayall’s studio on the Strand in London.
Inside the studio are examples of daguerreotypes and a range of photographic
equipment, including a daguerreotype camera. A head-brace is used to hold the
sitter in the correct position during the long exposure time.
Turner later returns for a second sitting with Mrs Booth, his landlady and
companion. Mrs Booth’s suspicion of the photographic process reflects the general
wariness of early Victorians towards photography.
‘Things one would rather have left unsaid’
George du Maurier
Punch cartoon, 5 May 1888
Carte-de-visite portrait photographs became so popular that it could seem difficult
to avoid them. A writer in All the Year Round, a weekly magazine edited by Charles
Dickens, complained in 1862: “If we are public characters (and it is astonishing how
many of us now find that we are so), we are actually obliged at last to get
accustomed to the sight of ourselves in the shop-windows of this great
metropolis.” The feeling that photography had become impossible to control is
turned to humour in this Punch cartoon of the 1880s in which an older lady is still
finding the new technology rather vulgar.
As well as advertising in their windows, photographic studios also promoted
themselves using decorative motifs on the front and reverse of cartes-de-visite.
This meant that as the cards were exchanged the studio’s name was spread
further.
Keepsakes and Albums
Early photographs were often placed in small cases, especially daguerreotypes
which would tarnish if exposed to air for too long. These cases were small, intimate
and portable and came in many designs, initially in wood or leather and often lined
with velvet. From the 1850s an early form of plastic was used to mould different
shapes.
Photographs became part of people’s personal costumes. Queen Victoria led the
fashion for wearing jewellery with photographs inset, and even included locks of
hair in memory of the sitter.
Collecting and exchanging images implied an intimacy with the sitter. It became
fashionable to create albums combining images of family members and celebrities,
particularly the Royal Family. A family photograph album became a feature of a
respectable home, forming part of drawing-room entertainment. Albums came in
all shapes and sizes and would reflect a family’s social status. These became as
elaborate and as treasured as the traditional family Bible.
1. Leather-bound album featuring the Royal Family and aristocracy
Late 1860s
Open pages featuring Queen Victoria and Princess Louise photographed by W & D
Downey at Balmoral Castle
2. Holman Hunt family album
c.1901
3. Gilded decorative album
Date and photographer unknown
The decoration on this album resembles an elaborate Bible. This is intentional as
family Bibles were treasured heirlooms, listing each generation to record a family’s
ancestry. Photographic albums were a new way to continue this tradition.
4. George Gammon Adams album
Date and photographer unknown
Open page features the portrait sculptor and medalist George Adams and his wife
in fancy dress costume. By being compact this album was not only intimate, but
portable.
5. Album with floral front – ‘A Present from Ardrossan, Scotland’
Date and photographer unknown
6. Prince of Wales’s Feathers album
Date and photographer unknown
7. John Gibson album, gifted by Queen Victoria
Date and photographer unknown
These likenesses were given to the architect John Gibson by Queen Victoria. Open
pages feature Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice, the Prince of Wales and Princess
Alice photographed by J J E Mayall.
8. Seated woman in profile
Date and photographer unknown
9. Seated woman with gilded necklace and rings
Date and photographer unknown
Photographs could be hand-tinted, often using gold to highlight, any jewellery and
pink for the cheeks.
10. Seated girl in off-shoulder dress
Date and photographer unknown
H N Holborn Photographic Artists
11. Miniature album of stamp-sized photographs of European royalty
Date and photographer unknown
Open pages feature the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Mary and
Princess Hohenzollern.
12. Seated girl in photography studio
Date and photographer unknown
13. Seated man in cap
Date and photographer unknown
14. Holly
1875
From the family collection of art critic F G Stephens
15 – 16. Sitter unknown
Date and photographer unknown
17. Holly at the beach
1875
From the family collection of art critic F G Stephens
18. Young girl leaning on chair
Date and photographer unknown
19. Seated man
Date and photographer unknown
20. Seated female wearing a cameo brooch
Date unknown
H Ward
21. Albert Durer Lucas
1845
Photographer unknown
In a note to accompany this photograph, Lucas explains ‘My shirt collar is dirty and
the reason is that I had that morning been removing from the screen from the
models of the Parthenon during the closed week of the [British] Museum in Dec
1845. A D Lucas.’ Lucas’s father was reconstructing his theory of the original
arrangements of the Parthenon.
22. Young woman with a book and a gilded brooch
Date and photographer unknown
23. Seated woman with a book in her lap – inscribed ‘Aunt Charlotte’
Date and photographer unknown
24. W Henry Weldon, aged 16
c.1853
Photographer unknown
25. Seated woman in left profile view
Date unknown
H N Holborn Photographic Artists
26 – 32. Sitters unknown
Dates and photographers unknown
33. Two seated children
1875
From the family collection of art critic F G Stephens
34. W Henry Weldon
c.1853
Photographer unknown
35. Unknown woman
Date and photographer unknown
36. Mary Williams
Date unknown
H N Holborn Photographic Artists
Stereoscopes
The Victorians were not only experimenting with how to capture photographic
images, but also how to see them in three dimensions. In the 1830s it was realised
that two drawings of the same subject, taken from slightly different angles, could
create a single 3D image when viewed together. Charles Wheatstone invented a
simple viewing device called the stereoscope which was soon adapted for use with
photographs.
Stereoscopes became important features of home entertainment. People were
able to laugh at amusing comedy scenes, understand the latest news, or travel to
foreign lands, even the moon.
The 1850s was the golden age of stereocards, the first mass-produced
photographs, which were so popular that the London Stereoscopic Company
coined the slogan ‘No home without a stereoscope’.
Travel photography
Photography in its early years presented multiple challenges, the biggest being
portability. Numerous chemicals and plates and a cumbersome camera meant that
taking photographs ‘on the go’ was not an easy option. Photographs of distant
places were therefore all the more valued and resembled an early form of
postcard.
Once the photograph was taken, the image could be transported anywhere. Louis
Daguerre’s invention of the daguerreotype was praised for making the world
mobile:
‘… he took the entire towers [of Notre Dame] with him, from the tremendous
stone foundation they rest upon, to the thin and light spire they carry up to
the sky.’
All objects on loan from The Brian May Collection
Italy, 64. Hospital, Venice
Gaudin brothers
Italy, 130. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina with Temple of Romulus, Rome
Gaudin brothers
Italy, 143. The Leaning Tower, Pisa
Gaudin brothers
USA, 12. View on the Quay of New York
1859
William England
USA, 87. The Niagara Suspension Bridge. Interior view
1859
William England
USA, 90. American Fall, Niagara, From Goat’s Island – A Winter Scene
1859
William England
Egypt, 308. Façade of the Great Rock Temple of Abou Simbel, in Nubia
1857
Francis Frith
Egypt, 309. Façade of the Great Rock Temple of Abou Simbel, in Nubia
1857
Francis Frith
Egypt, 394. Portion of the Great Hall of Columns at Karnac
1857
Francis Frith
Paris, 31. La Bourse, à Paris – Vue Instantanée
1861
William England
Paris, 38. Boulevard de Strasbourg, à Paris – Vue Instantanée
1861
William England
Paris, 47. Rue de Rivoli, à Paris – Vue Instantanée
1861
William England
Japan, 57. Jeda. Group of Japanese Officers, with Mr. Gower, attaché to the British
Legation at Jeda
1859
Pierre Rossier
Japan, 60. Jeda. Group of Japanese Officers, with Messrs MacDonald, Gower, and
Fletcher, attachés to the British Legation at Jeda
1859
Pierre Rossier
Japan, 79. Japanese Ladies, in full dress – Winter costume
1859
Pierre Rossier
China, 38. Canton. Portraits of Pey Kwei, the Governor of Canton, Mandarin of the
red button, or of the first class, with Mr. Commissioner Parkes, and attendants on
Pey Kwei
1859
Pierre Rossier
China, 39. Canton. Portrait of Tsean-Keun, Tartar General in chief of the Canton
Army of Braves, Mandarin of the first class or red button
1859
Pierre Rossier
China, 42. Canton. Group of a Chinese Lady and Attendants
1859
Pierre Rossier
Lunar Photograph
Warren de la Rue, enlarged and published by Smith, Beck & Beck, London
Photographed in 1858 and 1859. Printed in 1862
Lunar Photograph
Warren de la Rue, enlarged and published by Smith, Beck & Beck, London
Photographed in 1857 and 1862. Printed in 1862
Lunar Photograph
Warren de la Rue, enlarged and published by Smith, Beck & Beck, London
Photographed in 1859 and 1860. Printed in 1862
Tableaux vivants
Tableaux vivants are a form of entertainment in which costumed actors arrange
themselves into living pictures. They typically depicted notable historical or literary
scenes, sometimes works of art. The entertainment was popular from theatres to
drawing rooms. As photographs could take several minutes to expose, tableaux
vivants were an ideal subject as the actors were practised at holding still.
All objects on loan from The Brian May Collection
Broken Vows, after the painting by Philip Calderon
1858
James Elliott
Broken Vows, after the painting by Philip Calderon
1858
James Elliott
Broken Vows, after the painting by Philip Calderon
1858
James Elliott
Death of Chatterton, after the painting by Henry Wallis
c.1861
Michael Burr
Happy as a King, after the painting by William Collins
1865
Michael Burr
First time at church, after the paintings My first Sermon and My second Sermon,
by John Everett Millais
1865
Michael Burr
Death of Thomas a’Beckett
1857
James Elliott
Joan of Arc taken prisoner
1857
James Elliott
Crowning of Henry the Seventh on Bosworth Field
1857
James Elliott
Mary, Queen of Scots, compelled to sign her abdication
1857
James Elliott
Mary, Queen of Scots, a prisoner
1857
James Elliott
Escape of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, from Lochleven Castle
1857
James Elliott
Uncle Toby and the Widow Wadman, statuette after a painting by Charles Robert
Leslie inspired by an episode from Laurence Sterne’s novel The Life and Opinions
of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
c.1860
Statuary
Bust of Queen Victoria
c.1860
Statuary
Duke of Wellington, by Weijall
c.1860
Statuary
Diableries, 47. Course de vélocipèdes, Enfer
1873
Louis Alfred Habert
Diableries, 58. Les Régates à Satanville, Enfer
1873
Louis Alfred Habert
Diableries, 61. La Guerre, départ de l’Enfer
1873
Louis Alfred Habert
Les Théâtres de Paris. Le Pré aux clercs. L’Ambassadeur, No. 4 of 6
1873
Louis Alfred Habert
Les Théâtres de Paris. Les Huguenots. L’honneur triomphe, No. 10 of 12
1873
Louis Alfred Habert
Les Théâtres de Paris. Guillaume Tell. Arrivée de Guillaume, No. 1 of 12
1869
Louis Alfred Habert
Back row
Stereoscope with stand
Date unknown
French
Stereoscopic Camera
1860s
London Stereoscopic Company
Front row
Stereoscope with decorations
Creator and date unknown
Stereoscope with brass oculars
Date unknown
Antoine Claudet, 107 Regent Street, London
All objects on loan from The Brian May Collection
Assisting Art
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) first associated photography with art when
he dreamed of a tool to capture images on paper. His experiments succeeded and
he called it ‘photogenic drawing’.
Talbot suggested that photography could be used for cataloguing – creating an
historical record of vulnerable objects and buildings. Artists also used photography
in many other ways, such as collecting images of models, places or objects to later
form compositions.
Because photography was not yet generally accepted as an art form in its own
right, artists were often wary of openly discussing their use of it. As a result, it took
over a century for individuals who experimented with photography, such as Julia
Margaret Cameron, to be appreciated as artists.
Ada Forestier-Walker, Henry Holiday and unknown Male Model
c.1896
Photographer unknown
Gelatin silver print
Model of the Ponte Vecchio
Date and photographer unknown
Gelatin silver print
Dante and Beatrice
1883
Henry Holiday (1839-1927)
Courtesy of National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
Photography enabled artists to instantly capture their compositions. These
photographs show the artist Henry Holiday with models mimicking his earlier
painting Dante and Beatrice. Holiday used the model of the Ponte Vecchio in
Florence to help construct the composition. Dante and Beatrice was recreated in
Liverpool in 1896 as a tableau vivant (living picture) for the Healthy and Artistic
Dress Union to demonstrate the more beautiful and healthier costumes of earlier
centuries.
‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ retouched by G F Watts
c.1880
Frederick Hollyer (1838-1933) and G F Watts (1817-1904)
Photograph highlighted with oil paints
Conserved with the generous support of ExxonMobil
‘Paolo and Francesca’ retouched by G F Watts
c.1870s
Frederick Hollyer (1838-1933) and G F Watts (1817-1904)
Photograph highlighted with oil paints
Frederick Hollyer took photographs of many of the paintings of G F Watts, forming
a visual catalogue of them. The prints allowed the global distribution of Watts’s
most famous compositions. Watts was, however, concerned that his subtle colour
schemes did not translate well into black and white. As he wrote to his friend
Jeanie Senior: ‘pictures do not photograph well unless painted in a colourless
manner… My pictures as a rule come out badly, as I always aim at internal colour’.
These two photographs of pictures by Watts have been retouched with paint,
presumably by Watts himself. They seem to show the artist exploring the
boundaries between painted and photographic images.
Clockwise from top left
Jane Morris
1865
Maull & Polyblank
Albumen print from wet collodian-on-glass negative
Unknown man dressed in chain mail
c.1875
Henry Holiday
Albumen print
Classical Statue
Date unknown
Henry Holiday
Photograph stuck on card
Dante and Beatrice
Date unknown
Henry Holiday
Photograph printed on card
Classical Statues
c.1875
Henry Holiday
Photograph
‘Sleep’ by Henry Holiday
c.1861
Photographer unknown
Photograph printed on card
Clockwise from top left
‘Love with a Thorn in his Foot’ by A M Scott
Date unknown
Photographer unknown (Henry Holiday Collection)
Photograph in soft card holder
Henry Holiday in chain mail
1871
Photographer unknown
Albumen print
Henry Holiday in Bishop’s costume
c.1870
Photographer unknown
Albumen print
Fanny Cornforth
1863
W & D Downey
Collodian process
Photograph of Lilian Mackintosh in front of ‘Lilian’
c.1904
Photographer unknown
Bromide print
G F Watts Carrying Basket used in ‘Lilian’
1904
Photographer unknown
Glass plate negative
Lady Katherine Thynne
c.1890
Photographer unknown
Glass plate negative
Lady Katherine Thynne sitting with her portrait
c.1890
Photographer unknown
Glass plate negative
Photographs of the Wattses and their home at Compton were taken by Mary
Watts herself, the Estate Steward George Andrews and others. These photographs
provide invaluable insights into the working practices of the two artists.
Two of these photographs show Lady Katherine Thynne sitting for her portrait.
Watts considered her a great beauty and insisted he paint her. The photograph of
her incomplete portrait shows how Watts has quickly sketched out the face,
building in the layers of colour and shading in the background. Lady Katherine is
seated in front of the unfinished painting of The All Pervading (Tate), which is
currently on loan to Watts Gallery.
Lilian Mackintosh, the ward of the Wattses, was also photographed in front of her
portrait by G F Watts. Watts himself was photographed holding a basket,
demonstrating the composition he intended for the painting.
The painting, Lilian, is on display at Watts Studios.
A New Art Form
In comparison to photographers who earned an income from studio portraiture,
those who experimented with techniques and equipment were often considered
amateurs. It took over a century for photography to be accepted as an art form
equal to painting or sculpture.
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) only took to photography in 1863 when her
daughter gave her a camera as a gift. Cameron developed a very distinctive style
of costumed portraiture, pressing friends and neighbours into service as models
playing historical and literary roles. Although passionately committed to having her
work taken seriously, Cameron’s style was well outside the Victorian mainstream.
Her compositions, focus and printing were vastly different from the products of
the studios.
G F Watts encouraged Cameron throughout her career. In 1864 she compiled an
album for him which she inscribed: ‘To the Signor, to whose generosity I owe the
choicest fruits of his Immortal genius, I offer these my first successes in my mortal
but yet divine art of photography.’ For years afterwards, Cameron regularly sent
Watts her latest productions for his opinion, and on occasion used him as one of
her celebrity models. Underneath a print of The Dream, Watts wrote: ‘Quite Divine’.
The Angel at the Tomb
1870
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)
Sepia silver-nitrate print
The Angel at the Sepulchre
1869-70
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)
Sepia silver-nitrate print
The Dream
1869
Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)
Carbon print
Have a go
See the world in 3D with a stereoscope. Insert a stereo card into the viewing slot.
Place your thumbs into the grooves on either side of the viewer, supporting the
viewer with your hands. Move your thumbs back and forth to adjust, until you can
see the image in 3D.
Create your own Victorian photograph. Dress up and use the props in the Victorian
photo booth. Use the Tonal filter on iPhone for authenticity. Share your best
Victorian photographs with us on Twitter.
#WattsCloseUp
Victorian guidelines for sitting for your photograph
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Stay still. Keep your head in the headrest and focus your eyes on the door
handle, curtain tassel or moulding in the corner of the room. If you move the
photograph will blur and you will look like a ghost.
Do not smile. The exposure time can take several minutes.
Men look out into the distance past the camera. Women look demurely to
the side.
Wear your best clothes. This photograph will be treasured by loved ones so
you want to look your best.
Use the props that reflect your profession and interests.
Photography has become a household word and a household want; is used alike
by art and science, by love, business, and justice; is found in the most sumptuous
saloon … and in the glare of the London gin-palace – in the pocket of the detective,
in the cell of the convict, in the folio of the painter and architect … and on the cold
brave breast on the battle-field.
Elizabeth Eastlake, London Quarterly Review, 1857
Anyone who has ever seen you, or has seen anybody that has seen you …
considers himself entitled to ask you for your photograph … The claimant does not
care about you or your likeness in the least. But he or she has got a photograph
book, and, as it must be filled, you are invited to act as a padding to that volume.
‘Fashions’, Saturday Review, May 10, 1862