The portraits of Baron Raglan and Omar Pacha are taken in the same location, probably at the same sitting. These are psychological portraits that attempt to get under the skin of the sitter, not mere representations for use as a template for painting. In portraiture, this personal connection can be seen in the photographs, Lord Balgonie (1855, above), Fitzroy James Henry Somerset, Baron Raglan (1788-1855) (, below), Omar Pacha (1806-1871) (1855, below) and General James Bucknall Estcourt (1802-1855) (1855, below), a man deep in thought or, perhaps, melancholy. In other words, when he is not constructing or documenting as representation, but attempting to capture the spirit of person/place. But Fenton’s photographs are most successful when he has a personal connection to the subject matter, whether it be portrait or landscape. Barker used over 50 of Fenton’s images to create the monumental work The Allied Generals with the officers of their respective staffs before Sebastopol (private collection).” Fenton was fulfilling his commission and earning a living by taking photographs for a painter. Staging photographs of war, and altering reality to suit the commercial, political or moral aspirations of photographer or institution, continues to this day.įor most of the images, “research for the exhibition has revealed that Fenton’s portraits and topographical views were principally intended as source material for the artist Thomas J Barker, who had been commissioned by Agnews to produce an oil painting of the senior officers of the allied forces. These staged photographs, documented for the edification of a viewing public back home in England and for the purpose of making money for the photographer, set the trend for the genre for the next 80 years. The Crimean photographs of Roger Fenton represent the beginning of war photography. From the collection of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. In recent years, this photograph has been described as the first photographic portrait of shell-shock. Fenton has photographed him standing in front of a sheet, which serves as a make-shift studio and he looks unkempt and shaken, as if he has recently stepped off the battlefield. At the time, his death was attributed to the hardships of the war. Lord Balgonie served in the Grenadier Guards during the war, and died only a couple of years after returning to Britain. He was the eldest son of the 8th Earl of Leven, a Scottish peer. This portrait (above) shows Captain Alexander Leslie-Melville (1831-1857), known as Lord Balgonie. © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017 RCIN 2500273 Exhibition dates: 9th November 2018 – 28th April 2019
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |