Robert Howlett
British photographer / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Robert Howlett?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Robert Howlett (3 July 1831[lower-alpha 1][1] ā 2 December 1858)[2][3][4][5] was a British pioneering photographer whose pictures are widely exhibited in major galleries. Howlett produced portraits of Crimean War heroes,[6] genre scenes and landscapes. His photographs include the iconic picture of Isambard Kingdom Brunel which was part of a commission by the London-based weekly newspaper Illustrated Times[7][8] to document the construction of the world's largest steamship, the SS Great Eastern.[3]
Robert Howlett | |
---|---|
Born | (1831-07-03)3 July 1831[1] |
Died | 2 December 1858(1858-12-02) (aged 27) London, England |
Occupation | Photographer |
He exhibited at the London Photographic Society and published On the Various Methods of Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for Their Preservation.[3][9] He worked in partnership with Joseph Cundall[3][10] at "The Photographic Institution" at New Bond Street, London.[9][11]
Howlett made photographic studies for the artist William Powell Frith to assist him on his vast modern panorama painting The Derby Day (1856ā58; Tate, London) which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1858.[5]
Howlett was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to photograph the frescoes in the new drawing-room at Buckingham Palace,[1] make copies of the paintings by Raphael and make a series of portraits called 'Crimean Heroes'[2][6] which was exhibited in 1857 the Photographic Society of London's annual exhibition.[2]
Howlett died in 1858, aged 27. His death was apparently due to typhoid (rather than as a result of over-exposure to dangerous chemicals, as was suggested by some at the time, a myth that has continued to this day). The Illustrated Times praised him as "one of the most skillful photographers of the day."[7]
Prints from Howlett's photographs were published posthumously by his late partners Cundall & Downes under their own name, and by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.[5]