KING TENISON, LE GRAY, MAYER FRERES, AGUADO, VALLOU DE VILLENEUVE, DELAMOTTE, TUNNY and others

Irish family album including French and Spanish portraits, early 1850s

Details

KING TENISON, LE GRAY, MAYER FRERES, AGUADO, VALLOU DE VILLENEUVE, DELAMOTTE, TUNNY and others
Irish family album including French and Spanish portraits, early 1850s
Album of 102 photographs, approx. seventy salt prints, at least two from waxed paper negatives, the remainder mostly light albumen or coated salt prints, the majority approx. 4½ x 3½ in., various other sizes up to 7 7/8 x 6¼ in., one with blindstamp GUSTAVE LE GRAY, one signed in the negative J. Vallou de Villeneuve, one with blindstamp J. G. TUNNY, four mounted on thin white paper as carte-de-visite and identified in pencil on mount Olympe Aguado, the majority of sitters identified in pencil on mounts, one print loosely inserted inscribed and dated in pencil on verso Printed in 1855 as an experiment to find how long it would last without fading. July 1855 and initialled [?G.]H.G., dark green leather, g.e., gilt clasp, small 4to.

Literature

Gernsheim, The History of Photography, pl. 136; Janis, The Photography of Gustave Le Gray, p. 108, pl. 13.

Lot Essay

An early portrait album mainly of Irish, Scottish, French and Spanish interest relating to the families of Edward King Tenison (1805-78) and Robert Edward, 7th Earl of Kingston (1831-1871). Including a few professional portraits such as studies of Prince Louis-Napoleon by Le Gray (1851), another by Mayer Frères, the Empress Eugénie by Mayer Frères, the visit of the Emperor and Empress to the Crystal Palace, April 20, 1855 by Delamotte, Dr. Simpson, Edinburgh by Tunny and 'Rachel' by Vallou de Villeneuve. Others include a study of the Roscommon Regiment, members of the Stuart and Bruce families, the artists Lundgren and Topham, many good child portraits, two titled Hon. A. Crofton (Augusta Crofton, who was given a camera in 1851 by her father and became a talented amateur photographer), several of women and girls in Spanish dress, one of the Vice Consul of Seville, two of the matador, Cuchanes, two of Don Cajigas and a fine portrait of Capt. R. J. Henry, founder member and first Vice Chairman of the Dublin Photographic Society, seated, his arm resting on his camera (illus.). Edward King Tenison of Kilronan Castle, Co. Roscommon, travelled extensively in France and Spain producing large-scale calotype views in the early 1850s and it is probable that many of the intimate family portraits are his work. Two of the portraits at the beginning of the album are identified as Louisa, the names of his wife and daughter, a third in Malaga shows Louisa and Florence, his two daughters. Edward King Tenison's mother (neé Lady Frances Anne King) was the daughter of the first Earl of Kingston.

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