Part 396: Francis Bedford, photographer
In 1863, William Telbin and his son Henry painted scenes for a panorama about the tour made in the East by the Prince of Wales. At that same time, Francis Bedford (1816-1894) created a photographic exhibition of the same tour. Bedford was a British artist, photographer, lithographer, and publisher.
Bedford was the son of a church architect,Francis Octavius Bedford, following in his father’s footsteps and beginning his career as a draughtsman. He soon became well-known for his ecclesiastical architectural drawings. This skill facilitated additional projects that included “A Chart Illustrating the Architecture of Westminster Abbey (1840) and “A Chart of Anglican Church Architecture Arranged Chronologically with Examples of Different Styles” (1843). Other lithographic commissions included one hundred plates for Owen Jones’ “The Grammar of Ornament” (1856) and “The Treasury of Ornamental Art” (1858).
It was not until the 1850s that Bedford took up photography. He specialized in topographic and architectural views. In 1857 he joined the Photographic Society of London and was elected to the Council of the Photographic Society, later becoming the organization’s president in 1861.
By 1854 Queen Victoria commissioned him to photograph objects in the royal collection at Marlborough House. By the 1861 census, Bedford was listed as an “artist” in Peterborough, later becoming a “photographic artist” in London. He was the first photographer to accompany a royal tour, after successfully completing two royal commissions.
All parts of the group’s itinerary had already been explored by British travelers, authors, artists and photographers, including Rev. George Wilson Bridges (1846-1852), Maxim du Camp (1849-1851), Francis Frith (1856-1860), as well as the Cramb brothers and James Graham during the 1860s. Many published their photographs by subscription installments. This was similar to what David Roberts had done with his lithographs, resulting in a photographically-illustrated book once the series was complete. Others, such as Frith, issued their photographs as glass-plate stereographs that accompanied descriptive books. Many of Bedford’s photographs became carte-de-visite prints, all bearing the legend “F. Bedford Photographer to H. R. H. The Prince of Wales” over the Prince’s coat of arms. During the 1860s Bedford’s catalogue ran over 9000 images various formats, including multiple view carte-de-visite, copied from montages of large format views.
Here is an article about Bedford’s project that was published in Illustrated London News (13 Sept 1862, Vol. 41, No. 1164, page 283).
“Echoes of the Week, and the International Exhibition.”
“One of the most admirable and interesting exhibitions now open in London is that of the photographic pictures taken by Mr. Francis Bedford during his tour in the East, on which, by command, he accompanied his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and which are now on view at the German Gallery in Old Bond-street. Panoramas, sketches, pictures, and photographs of the Holy Land are no novelties in this country, and are honourably connected with the names of Roberts, Bartlett, Bonomi, and others; but the circumstances under which Mr. Bedford’s tour was undertaken give additional interest to his collection of photographs. We may remark, en passant, that another artist of eminence, although in a widely-different style, is now occupying himself in Oriental fields. Mr. Buckstone, of the Haymarket, has commissioned the famous scene-painter, Mr. William Telbin, to proceed to the East to follow the scarcely-effaced footsteps of the Prince of Wales, for the purpose of making sketches illustrative of his Royal Highness’s tour in Syria and Palestine, which will be reproduced in a panorama for a grand spectacle founded on the Story of “Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.” Dr. Johnson will himself officiate as chorus, and, in his immortal snuff-coloured suit and bushy wig, deliver a sonorous commentary on the adventures of Rassolas, who, dramatically speaking, is to be taken in hand by Mr. William Brough.”
To be continued…
