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219
(CRIMEAN WAR)
Stunning album entitled "Grenadier Guards" containing 105 bright photographs including images by camille silvy, gustave le gray, roger fenton, cundall & howlett, and robinson of dublin, among others, comprising portraits of Crimean War soldiers from the Grenadier Guards and other regiments, Zouaves in camp, oversize studio portraits of military musicians in full regalia, a group portrait of 3 Zouave Vivandières [female nurses], officers and Lords, drummer boys, camp scenes and battle scenes, 10 photographs of paintings, and much more. Albumen and salted paper prints, 4 3/4x5 1/2 to 11 1/2x14 1/2 inches (12.1x14 to 29.2x36.8 cm.), 3 with Le Gray's red hand stamp, one with Fenton's credit, in pencil, on the mount, and 3 with Robinson's blind stamp, many with the sitter's name, in pencil, on mount recto; mounted one to 2 per page recto. Folio, 1/2 green morocco with a gilt title label, edge wear; brass clasp with the original key. 1850s-60s
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Notes: Photographic reportage was just beginning to be undertaken in the early 1850s. The Crimean War (1854-56) was one of the first major to be systematically photographed and documented for publication at home. Though other photographer's had been sent by the army with little success the publisher, Thomas Agnew & Sons decided to send Roger Fenton to photograph officers and encampments for commercial sale. Also photographing the war was a Frenchman, Gustave Le Gray, who documented the training camp of Napolean III, including a wonderful series of Zouaves, 3 of which are included in this album.
On the home front in Britain, Queen Victoria, an avid collector of photographs, was seduced by stories of the war. She arranged elaborate inspections, medal ceremonies, and receptions for returning troops and commissioned photographers to take portraits. She personally compiled a pair of albums, which remain in the Royal Archives. The first is devoted to officers, many photographed by Fenton, and the other to invalid soldiers, recipients of the Queen's Crimean Medal, and various privates and non-commissioned troops. While the photographers vary, and many to this day are not attributed, the majority were taken by Roger Fenton, Joseph Cundall and Robert Howlett, and J. E. Mayall. Cundall and Howlett also photographed troops at the post war ceremonies organized by the Queen.
The album being sold here also includes another rare and prominent image relating to war. Camille Silvy's "Armée d'Italie, Ordre du Jour," from 1859, which documents an advance in war reportage. The image was taken in Paris and depicts a crowd of men viewing Napoleon III's Ordre du Jour. In an effort to bring the war to the people, Napoleon had the order telegraphed to Paris and printed before dawn of the next day. Posted all over the city by morning, the order reached the masses with previously unheard of speed. Silvy's photograph of this news event was published 10 days later and was reproduced as a wood engraving. See happy birthday photography, bokelberg sammlung, (Zurich, 1989), no. 56; camille de silvy: river scene, france, (J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992), fig. 33; and a guide to early photographic processes, (London, 1983), pl. 27.
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May 20, 2004 12:00 AM EDT
New York, NY, US
Swann Auction Galleries
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