- James Robertson (photographer)
James Robertson (1813 — 1888) was an English
photographer and gem and coin engraver who worked in the Mediterranean region, theCrimea and possiblyIndia . He was one of the first war photographers.Robertson was born in
Middlesex in 1813. He trained as an engraver under Wyon (probablyWilliam Wyon ) and in 1843 he began work as an engraver at theImperial Ottoman Mint inConstantinople . It is believed that Robertson became interested in photography while in theOttoman Empire in the 1840s.In 1853 he began photographing with British photographer
Felice Beato and the two formed a partnership called "Robertson & Beato" either in that year or in 1854 when Robertson opened aphotographic studio in Pera, Constantinople. Robertson and Beato were joined by Beato's brother, Antonio on photographic expeditions toMalta in 1854 or 1856 and toGreece andJerusalem in 1857. A number of the firm's photographs produced in the 1850s are signed "Robertson, Beato and Co." and it is believed that "and Co." refers to Antonio.In late 1854 or early 1855 Robertson married the Beato brothers' sister, Leonilda Maria Matilda Beato. They had three daughters, Catherine Grace (born in 1856), Edith Marcon Vergence (born in 1859) and Helen Beatruc (born in 1861).
In 1855 Robertson and Felice Beato travelled to
Balaklava , Crimea where they took over reportage of theCrimean War fromRoger Fenton . They photographed the fall ofSevastopol in September 1855.Some sources have suggested that in 1857 "both" Robertson and Felice Beato went to India to photograph the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion, but it is more probable that Beato travelled there alone. Around this time Robertson did photograph in
Palestine ,Syria , Malta, andCairo with either or both of the Beato brothers.In 1860, after Felice Beato left for
China to photograph theSecond Opium War and Antonio Beato went toEgypt , Robertson briefly teamed up withCharles Shepherd back in Constantinople. The firm of Robertson & Beato was dissolved in 1867, having produced images - including remarkable multiple-print panoramas - of Malta, Greece,Turkey ,Damascus , Jerusalem, Egypt, the Crimea and India. Robertson possibly gave up photography in the 1860s; he returned to work as an engraver at the Imperial Ottoman Mint until his retirement in 1881. In that year he left forYokohama ,Japan , arriving in January 1882. He died there in April 1888.References
* Auer, Michèle, and Michel Auer. "Encyclopédie internationale des photographes de 1839 à nos jours/Photographers Encyclopaedia International 1839 to the Present" (Hermance: Editions Camera Obscura, 1985).
* [http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?id=1020101&lang=en Benaki Museum. "James Robertson (1813-1888)"] . Accessed 26 May 2008.
* [http://www.cca.qc.ca/collectionenligne/fiches/fiches15.asp?ID=Robertson%2C+James&origineObject=PH1984:0641&ficheType=2&langue=2 Canadian Centre for Architecture; Collections Online, s.v. "Robertson, James"] . Accessed 3 April 2006.
* Clark, John. "Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, continental Europe, and the USA: Papers and Research Materials" (Sydney: Power Publications, 2001), pp. 89-91, 113.
* Harris, David. "Of Battle and Beauty: Felice Beato's Photographs of China" (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1999).
* "James Robertson: Photographer of Istanbul" (London: The British Council, n.d.).
* Oztuncay, Bahattin. "James Robertson: Pioneer of Photography in the Ottoman Empire" (Istanbul: Eran, 1992).
* [http://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=robertson%2C+james&role=&nation=&prev_page=1&subjectid=500004067 Union List of Artist Names, s.v. "Robertson, James"] . Accessed 3 April 2006.External links
* Donnelly, Peter, curator. [http://www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/gallerycrimea01.htm The King's Own Royal Regiment Museum (Lancaster); Photo Gallery, Crimean War 1854-1856] . Accessed 7 November 2007.
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