Pierre Paul Brandebourg, also Peter Brandenbourg (1824-1878) was a Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

 painter and photographer. He was the first to open a photographic studio in the city of Luxembourg

Luxembourg (city)

The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...

.

Early life and family

Brandebourg's parents were Charles Brandebourg, a gardner, and Anne Lambert. After completing high school at Luxembourg's Athénée

Athénée de Luxembourg

The Athénée de Luxembourg , is a high school in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. It's commonly called Stater Kolléisch or De Kolléisch, and is the nation's oldest high school.-Brief history:...

, he first studied art under the Luxembourg painter Jean-Baptiste Fresez

Jean-Baptiste Fresez

Jean-Baptiste Fresez was Luxembourg's most important 19th-century painter. He is remembered above all for his almost photographic images of the City of Luxembourg.-Early life:...

 before spending terms at the academies of Paris

Académie des beaux-arts

The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...

, Antwerp and Munich

Academy of Fine Arts, Munich

The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich was founded 1808 by Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Munich as the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" and is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany...

. Returning to Luxembourg, on 4 May 1850, he married Catherine Kranenwitter from Rollingergrund. Both his son Charles (Carl) (1851–1906) and his grandson Emile followed in his footsteps, working as photographers in Luxembourg.

Career

Although Brandebourg was recognized as a competent artist with his paintings of men at work and scenes of the harbour in Antwerp or the steel factories of Luxembourg, he had difficulty in making a living from art alone. He therefore turned to photography, opening Luxembourg's first photographic studio on the Fish Market

Fishmarket

Fishmarket , also spelt Fish Market, is a street in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg, that shares its name with the neighbourhood directly surrounding it. It lies in the eastern part of the Ville Haute quarter....

. As a result of the care he took with composition and lighting, having one's portrait taken "chez Brandebourg" became increasingly popular.

Brandebourg died in 1878 at his home on Avenue Amélie in Luxembourg. Most of his paintings and photographs are still privately owned. Some can be seen in Luxembourg's Photothèque

Photothèque (Luxembourg)

The Photothèque in Luxembourg City in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg houses several large collections of photographs of the city taken between 1855 and today...

. Charles Bernhoeft

Charles Bernhoeft

Charles Bernhoeft was a photographer in Luxembourg where he took portraits of the Grand Ducal court as well as numerous landscapes which he turned into postcards.-Early life and family:...

took over his photographic business.