
Architecture and Topography
Photography, at its very beginning, required extremely long exposures, sometimes up to 30 minutes. This meant that still objects in full sunshine were the only possible candidates for the earlier photographers. Architecture and topographical views became therefore some of their favourite subjects, despite several technical issues.
Because of the long exposures, in fact, the camera was not able to capture moving objects, such as people or traffic along a busy road, and even the cloudiest sky invariably resulted overexposed, forming a plain, bright area, sometimes disturbing to the eye. Wind was another problem the photographer had to face, in particular when dealing with natural landscapes or gardens.
Architecture and topography, though, always remained dear subjects to photographers of all times, who often produced images which are not only artistically valuable but also extremely precious records from a historical point of view.
Photography was an extremely effective way to record the architecture and people of foreign places, often both geographically and culturally very far from Victorian England, such as the Near East as seen by the Prince of Wales during his tour in 1862. The camera also documented places closer to home, such as Coburg and Gotha, the homeland of Prince Albert. Queen Victoria had visited the area with him in 1845 and, some years later, she decided to recreate the tour with the help of photography. The commission was given to Francis Bedford, who travelled to Coburg in 1857 and to Gotha in 1858, following the Queen’s instructions. The result was two photograph albums which Queen Victoria presented to her husband as birthday gifts on those two consecutive years.
Windsor Castle was the subject chosen by Roger Fenton for a series of thirty-one photographic views he produced in 1860. Despite the full access to the grounds granted to him by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, Fenton chose conventional views of areas open to the public, which, filtered through his exceptional photographic vision, created superlative results. Fenton was a central figure in British photography between 1852 and 1862, drawing his contemporaries’ attention with the excellent quality of his prints and his virtuoso performances with the camera. In an article published in the Journal of the Photographic Society (21 May 1858) a critic wrote ‘No one can touch Fenton in landscape: he seems to be to photography what Turner was to painting.’
Roger Fenton (1819-69)
St George's Chapel and the Round Tower, Windsor Castle
Roger Fenton (1819-69)
View from the foot of the Round Tower, Windsor Castle
Roger Fenton (1819-69)
View on the Slopes, Windsor Castle
Roger Fenton (1819-69)
The Long Walk, Windsor
Arthur James Melhuish (1824-95)
Henry III Tower, Windsor Castle
Arthur James Melhuish (1824-95)
Thames Street, Windsor
Wilson & Hay (active c.1850-60)
The New Castle at Balmoral
George Washington Wilson (1823-93)
Balmoral Castle from the North West
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
View from the Ketschenbrücke, Coburg
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
The Terrace and Fountain of Rosenau Palace, 1857
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Coburg Peasants at Rosenau, 1857
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Coburg Peasants at Rosenau, 1857
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Duke August of Saxe-Gotha's State Coach, Gotha
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
View of Gotha from Prince Albert's window at Schloss Friedenstein
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Temple of the Mamluks at Cairo [Mausoleum of Emir Majlis Sudun and the al-Sawabi Mausoleum]
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Grand Gateway of the Temple of Luxor, Egypt [First Pylon, Luxor Temple]
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
The Garden of Gethsemane [Jerusalem]
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his party at Capernaum
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
The Sphinx, the Great Pyramid and two lesser Pyramids, Ghizeh, Egypt
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
Saracenic Gateway, Nabulus [Great Mosque, or Jama'a al-Kebir, Nablus]
Édouard Baldus (1813-89)
Gare de Paris (Est)
Édouard Baldus (1813-89)
Cathedrale d'Amiens
Édouard Baldus (1813-89)
Enghien
Dr John Murray (1809-98)
The Musamman Burj, Agra Fort
Charles Clifford (1819-62)
Alberca Court, Granada, Spain
Charles Clifford (1819-62)
Door of the Giants, Zaragoza, Spain
Charles Clifford (1819-62)
Wedding group in Estremadura, Spain
Charles Clifford (1819-62)
Catalonia: 'Devil's Bridge', Martorell
William Lake Price (1810-96)
Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
York Minster from Lord Mayor's Walk
Alfred Rosling (1802-82)
St Paul's on a Misty Morning
Francis Bedford (1815-94)
The Baptistry of Canterbury Cathedral, 1855
Charles Thurston Thompson (1816-68)
Barracks, Boulogne
Attributed to Corporal Church, Royal Engineers (active 1850s)
Artillery Field Forge, Aldershot
Princess Victoria of Wales, 2nd daughter of Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1868-1935)
Lamplighter at Patcham
Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1844-1925)
Off the Irish coast
Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1844-1925)
Changing the Guard at Windsor Castle
Queen Alexandra, consort of King Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom (1844-1925)
Off the Coast of Scotland
William Russell Sedgfield (1826-1902)
Stonehenge
William Lake Price (1810-96)
Ramsgate
Charles Reid (1837-1929)