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Tower of London; the Middle Tower, from the East. [London, England]

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Tower of London; the Middle Tower, from the East. [London, England]

description

Summary

Picryl description: Public domain photograph of Victorian London, mid-19th century albumen print, no copyright restrictions.

Blanchard was born in Wisbech, Isle of Ely. Other Wisbech photographers included Samuel 'Philosopher' Smith and Lilian Ream. According to Bill Jay, Blanchard "took stereoscopic pictures, cartes-de-visite, 'quality' portraits, instantaneous views, and art studies in platinum". He died in Meadow Lea, Herne Common, near Canterbury. He was born and raised in Wisbech, the son of Lucy and Valentine Blanchard a solicitor's clerk. In 1851 the census records him living with his parents in Bedford street, Wisbech. On completing an apprenticeship he moved to London. By 1852 Valentine had completed his printing apprenticeship, moved to London and on 7 May 1854 he married Mary Ann Allen. About this time Valentine set out on a new career as a photographer, using the Daguerreotype process. In 1869 he was in his studio at Camden Cottages, when the gun cotton and collodion he was working with caught fire and exploded. The blast destroyed his equipment and he received a hand injury. By 1870 he was operating from a studio in Piccadilly before moving to Regent Street in 1876. His entry, 'Study of an Italian Girl', in the 1870 Winter Exhibition of the Photographic Society, was described Of the portraits, first and foremost should be placed the silver photographs of V. Blanchard, which have only one fault, if it be one, that of being a little too dramatic and pronounced. The "Study of an Italian Girl" is a genuine work of art, though the portrait might pass for that of a Hindu, so far as the features are concerned. He died in 1901. An obituary appeared in The British Journal of Photography. He was survived by a nephew, Valentine Louis Blanchard, also a photographer with studios in Cambridge. His pictures are in collections including the J Paul Getty Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

date_range

Date

1862 - 1879
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Source

J. Paul Getty Museum
copyright

Copyright info

Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.

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