Lot Essay
Trutpert Schneider (1804-1899) was a gifted painter and draughtsman and a skilled craftsman. He took up photography in 1847 as a pupil of the French daguerreotypist Joseph Broglie, who was travelling through Ehrenstetten to Freiburg. He was a talented pupil and soon became more accomplished than his tutor. He set up in business in 1848 and soon after was making photographic excursions with his son, Heinrich, who was then only thirteen. Their first photographs were made in the local area around Karlsruhe and trips to Switzerland and Italy followed. Trutpert's other son, Wilhelm (1839-1921) joined the firm in 1856 and from 1858 until 1862 the brothers travelled extensively in Germany and to Russia.
The smaller format daguerreotypes in the present collection are mostly from the area around Karlsruhe, close to the Schneider family home in Ehrenstetten. The gilt-mounted stereo daguerreotypes were made using a single plate with one half simply blacked out while the other was exposed. The stamp W. T. Schneider was used until 1856, when another stamp Stereoscop von T. Schneider und Sohne was introduced. It is this later stamp which appears on the majority of the gilt-mounted stereo daguerreotypes which survive in the family collection. Those in the black glass mounts were made with two separate plates, a technique which was first employed by the photographers during a visit to Berlin.
It is known that Trutpert and his son Heinrich worked together from as early as 1848, and a stereo daguerreotype view of the Fürstenberg Palace which was discovered in 1988 in the collection of the Count of Fürstenberg is dated 1850. This places the Schneiders firmly amongst those photographers who were making the earliest stereoscopic photographs in Europe. Brewster first exhibited his lenticular stereoscope in England in 1849 but it was not until 1850 that Duboscq-Soleil began making studio-based stereoscopic daguerreotypes in Paris in this format, and it was only at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London that the medium first attracted public attention.
The Schneiders are rare among daguerreotypists in that they specialised in architecture, landscape and interiors, the latter still technically very difficult due to the lack of light and the necessarily long exposures required. It seems evident from this collection that the quality of their work was very high and that they were extremely conscious of the potential of the stereoscopic medium for representing their chosen subjects to best advantage. Many of the photographs, particularly the interiors, show a skilful manipulation of perspective and detail, enhancing the impression of space and depth within the subjects.
This present collection of daguerreotypes is the largest by Schneider and Son known to exist outside the family archive, and is the most extensive group of architectural daguerreotypes from Germany to have appeared on the market. Photograph auction records list only two daguerreotypes by the Schneiders, both of which were portraits.
The smaller format daguerreotypes in the present collection are mostly from the area around Karlsruhe, close to the Schneider family home in Ehrenstetten. The gilt-mounted stereo daguerreotypes were made using a single plate with one half simply blacked out while the other was exposed. The stamp W. T. Schneider was used until 1856, when another stamp Stereoscop von T. Schneider und Sohne was introduced. It is this later stamp which appears on the majority of the gilt-mounted stereo daguerreotypes which survive in the family collection. Those in the black glass mounts were made with two separate plates, a technique which was first employed by the photographers during a visit to Berlin.
It is known that Trutpert and his son Heinrich worked together from as early as 1848, and a stereo daguerreotype view of the Fürstenberg Palace which was discovered in 1988 in the collection of the Count of Fürstenberg is dated 1850. This places the Schneiders firmly amongst those photographers who were making the earliest stereoscopic photographs in Europe. Brewster first exhibited his lenticular stereoscope in England in 1849 but it was not until 1850 that Duboscq-Soleil began making studio-based stereoscopic daguerreotypes in Paris in this format, and it was only at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London that the medium first attracted public attention.
The Schneiders are rare among daguerreotypists in that they specialised in architecture, landscape and interiors, the latter still technically very difficult due to the lack of light and the necessarily long exposures required. It seems evident from this collection that the quality of their work was very high and that they were extremely conscious of the potential of the stereoscopic medium for representing their chosen subjects to best advantage. Many of the photographs, particularly the interiors, show a skilful manipulation of perspective and detail, enhancing the impression of space and depth within the subjects.
This present collection of daguerreotypes is the largest by Schneider and Son known to exist outside the family archive, and is the most extensive group of architectural daguerreotypes from Germany to have appeared on the market. Photograph auction records list only two daguerreotypes by the Schneiders, both of which were portraits.