William Notman - Officers of the 30th Regiment of Footsoldiers, 1865

Maker: William Notman (1826-1891)
Born: Scotland
Active: Canada/USA
Medium: albumen print
Size: 4.25 in x 2.5 in
Location: Canada

Object No. 2010.213
Shelf: E-22-NOTM

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Notes: A carte-de-visite portrait of three young man sliding down a hill on a sledge, the hill being a fake ‘snow scene’ mocked up in the photographer’s studio. The sitters were unidentified but according to the website of the McCord Museum in Montreal, they are Captains Campbell and Stevenson and Lieutenant Garnet [sic] of the 30th (The Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot and the photograph was taken in 1865. Their full names were John Pennock Campbell (1835-1904), Montagu Dickin Stevenson (dates unknown) and Charles Henry Garnett (1824-1917). They returned from Nova Scotia in June 1869. Published by George Bishop and Co. of Montreal.

Notman was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1826, the same year in which photography was born in France. William Notman moved to Montreal in 1856. An amateur photographer, he quickly established a flourishing professional photography studio on Bleury Street. His first important commission was the documentation of the construction of the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River. The Bridge opened with great fanfare in 1860, attended by the Prince of Wales. The gift to the Prince of a Maple Box containing Notman's photographs of the construction of the bridge and scenes of Canada East and Canada West so pleased Queen Victoria that, according to family tradition, she named him "Photographer to the Queen." Notman's reputation and business grew over the next three decades, the first Canadian photographer with an international reputation, and he operated his business as a partnership with other noted Canadian artists, initially John Arthur Fraser and then Henry Sandham, whom he also mentored. He established branches throughout Canada and the United States, including seasonal branches at Yale and Harvard universities, to cater to the student trade. Notman was also an active member of the Montreal artistic community, opening his studio for exhibitions by local painters; the studio also provided training for aspiring photographers and painters. Notman was highly regarded by his colleagues for his innovative photography, and held patents for some of the techniques he developed to recreate winter within the studio walls. He won medals at exhibitions in Montreal, London, Paris, and Australia.William Notman was a regular contributor to the photographic journal Philadelphia Photographer and in partnership with its editor, Edward Wilson, formed the Centennial Photographic Company for the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, held in honor of the 100th anniversary of the United States of America in 1876. He won the only gold medal to be awarded by the British judges and the portrait identification card required for entrance to the grounds was the ancestor of today's various photo-ID cards. (source: Wikipedia)

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Taken on: February 27, 2023

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Sets appears in: • 1860s • Making Photographs Cheaper more » • William Notman • Carte-de-vistes • Albumen Prints « less

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