Artist Index: Fenton, Roger

"Firing for the Queen's prize. A good beginning, two centres" (No. 63). 1860. Albumen print. 12,5 x 28 cm. Mounted to original board (some repaired tears in edges), title and no. in pencil below the image as well as letterpress with photographer's name below the image on the mount, with mat.

Born in Lancashire, Fenton initially trained as a lawyer and then as an artist before taking up photography in 1852. Over the next ten years, he undertook several extensive journeys with his camera and he was instrumental in founding the Photographic Society of London in 1853. Fenton worked in a variety of genres, producing portraits, still life, architecture, landscape and documentary photographs.
Fenton first met Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in January 1854 at an exhibition of the Photographic Society. Shortly afterwards he was asked to go to Buckingham Palace to photograph the royal family. Several commissions followed in 1854 and 1856, including a journey to Balmoral to photograph the royal children and the newly rebuilt castle.
Fenton had a highly successful career as a photographer, which included photographing the Crimean War in 1855. However, he retired from photography completely in 1862 and returned to his first profession of law. The image offered here was taken on the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the National Rifle Association in Wimbledon 2 July, 1860. There are not many extant prints of this event, especially a total view as in this print which is rare. – Some light crease marks, small surface scrape in mid portion, otherwise in very good condition.

Provenance: Robert Lebeck Collection

"Ismail Pacha & Attendants" (April 27, 1855); "Captain Pechell & Men of the 77th Regiment, Winter Dress" 1855/published 1856. 2 salt prints from wet collodion glass negatives. 17 x 16 cm and 16,9 x 16,2 cm. Each mounted to original album page (foxing, soiling in edges, some light traces of use), title and publisher's letterpress below the image on the mount.

The second image shows Captain William Cecil George Pechell (standing, third from right) and men of the 77th Regiment in their winter dress in the Ukraine, during the Crimean War, circa 1855. Pechell fell at Sebastopol on September 3rd 1855, having received honorary mention in the despatches only a few days before. These images are from one of the original sets of photographs by Roger Fenton of the Crimean War which were published by Thomas Agnew & Sons on a weekly basis from November 1855 - April 1856.