E. M. Ward

Book Description

London: Published by Lloyd Brothers & Co., circa 1858. Albumen photograph mounted on card as issued. Very good condition apart from some light soiling in the margins. 13 5/8 x 9 1/4 inches. 19 1/4 x 14 3/16 inches. A stunning image from the series "Portraits of Eminent British Artists" by one of the leading figures of early Victorian photography. This beautiful photograph depicts the renowned British historical painter Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879) during the height of his popularity. Born in London, Ward initially studied oil painting in the Covent Garden studio of John Cawse (1779-1862) before entering the Royal Academy schools in 1835. In order to hone further his artistic skills, he ventured to Venice and Paris in 1836 and finally settled Rome, where he sketched antiquities and worked in the studio of the classical painter and Director of the prestigious St. Luke Academy, Cavaliere Filippo Agricola. In 1839, Ward exhibited what was to be the first of many well-received paintings at the Royal Academy, which later elected him an academician in 1855. His historical paintings, the majority of which depict scenes from 17th- and 18th-century English and French history and social life, were enormously popular, and he also executed several notable frescoes for the hallway of the House of Commons and designed a number of hunting cartoons for Christopher Sykes in 1877. An architectural and topographical artist by training, William Lake Price was an innovator in the field of mid-nineteenth century photography, who revolutionized the combination printing technique. He was a pupil of the eminent architect Augustus Charles Pugin (1762-1832) and frequently exhibited his paintings and watercolours at the Royal Academy and Old Watercolour Society before taking up photography in 1854. He also published a number of illustrated books such as Interiors and Exteriors in Venice (1843). Despite his success as a painter, Price began to avidly pursue his interest in photography in the mid-1850s and joined the London Photographic Society and Photographic Exchange Club of London. He became active in the field during a key period in the evolution of British photography, which was still a relatively new science, into a commercial art form. He truly exemplified the growing phenomenon of the artist/photographer. His first photographs were primarily genre scenes, one of which appeared in the society's Photographic Album for the Year 1855. He also photographed historical and literary scenes as well as numerous portraits, many of which were published in an ambitious 1858 collection entitled Portraits of Eminent British Artists. That same year, he published Manual of Photographic Manipulation, a practical instructional work most likely intended for the amateur photographer, another recently developed phenomenon made possible by Frederick Scott Archer's introduction of the easily mastered collodion process in 1851. Price's photographic works were well received by the public, and he soon became a chief proponent of the combination printing technique, which he innovatively used to produce stunning compositions. He also experimented with stereoscopic pictures. His photographs can be found today in many collections, including The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Photographic Collection of the Royal Academy of Art, London. Cf. Dictionary of National Biography.

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