Robert Howlett
Encyclopedia
Robert Howlett was a pioneering British
photographer whose pictures are widely exhibited in major galleries. Howlett produced portraits of Crimean War
heroes, genre scenes and landscapes. His photographs include the iconic picture of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
which was part of a commission by The Times
(or Illustrated Times) to document the construction of the world's largest steamship, the SS Great Eastern
.
He exhibited at the London Photographic Society
and published “On the Various Methods of Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for Their Preservation.” He worked in partnership with Joseph Cundall
at "The Photographic Institution" at New Bond Street, London.
Howlett made photographic studies for the artist William Powell Frith
's painting of The Derby Day
which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art.
Howlett was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
to photograph the frescoes in the new drawing-room at Buckingham Palace
, make copies of the paintings by Raphael
and make a series of portraits called 'Crimean Heroes' which was exhibited in 1857 the Photographic Society of London's annual exhibition.
Howlett died in 1858, aged 27. The cause of death was probably as a result of over-exposure to the arsenic
and mercury
used in the photographic process. The Illustrated Times praised him as "one of the most skillful photographers of the day".
Prints from Howlett's photographs were published posthumously by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company
.
Robert Howlett was the second of four sons of Reverend Robert Howlett and Harriet Harsant. Two brothers died in infancy and his younger brother Thomas became a farmer. Robert was born in Theberton, Suffolk and the family had moved to Longham
, Norfolk
by the time he was 9 years old. Robert's maternal grandfather, Thomas Harsant, a surgeon
, owned telescope
s, microscopes, electrical machines, implements and instruments. Robert built his own microscope
. Circa 1845, the parsonage in Longham had an electrical telegraph
link to the local Manor House
, this was only eight years after Samuel Morse filed his telegraphy patent in America. Thomas Harsant died in 1852 and left Robert £1000 plus his “turning lathe and all the apparatus and tools belonging thereto.” Robert was thus able to move to London He rose to prominence while working for the Photographic Institution at 168 New Bond Street, London, which was a leading establishment for the commercial promotion of photography through exhibitions, publications, and commissions. Although the Photographic Institution was established in 1853 by Joseph Cundall and Phillip Delamotte, it is believed that Howlett replaced Delamotte, who became professor of drawing at King's College London
.
By 1856 Howlett was mentioned in the photographic press. He sent prints to the annual exhibitions of photographic societies in London, Manchester, and Norwich. These included landscape studies, In the Valley of the River Mole
, Mickleham
, and Box Hill, Surrey
, which are presumed to have been taken in 1855.
He exhibited at the London Photographic Society and in 1856 published a booklet “On the Various Methods of Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for Their Preservation.” He also designed and sold 'dark room tents' and worked in partnership with Joseph Cundall at "The Photographic Institution" at 168 New Bond Street, London.
Howlett undertook the first of a number of commissions for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
in 1856, working for the Photographic Institution. These included copying the works of Raphael
for Prince Albert, and making a series of portraits of heroic soldiers from the Crimean War
. These were first exhibited in 1857 as 'Crimean Heroes' at the Photographic Society of London's annual exhibition.Note: There are 2 discrete sets of 'Crimean Heroes' pictures. One by Howlett and the other by Joseph Cundall In 2004 Cundall and Howlett’s portraits of Crimean war veterans, were used by the Royal Mail
for a set of six postage stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the conflict.
Howlett's studio portraits at 'The Photographic Institute' included eminent 'fine artists' such as William Powell Frith
, Frederick Richard Pickersgill
, John Callcott Horsley
, and Thomas Webster
which were among a larger group exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester
in 1857.
Howlett was commissioned to make photographic studies of the crowd at the 1856 Epsom Derby for the painter William Powell Frith
, who used them in 1858 for his painting of The Derby Day
which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art in 1959. The photographs were taken from the roof of a cab.
.jpg)
Howlett's major work was the commission by The Times
(or Illustrated Times) to document the construction of the worlds largest steamship the SS Great Eastern. His images were translated into engravings for The Illustrated Times. They reflected and stimulated the widespread interest in this feat of engineering.
This project included the well known portrait of the Great western’s creator and engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, standing in front of the giant launching chains on the 'checking drum' braking mechanism at John Scott Russell
’s Millwall shipyard. It was taken to celebrate the launch of the world’s largest steamship, in November 1857.
This image, which depicts Brunel in an industrial setting instead of a more traditional background for a portrait, has been described as one of the first examples of environmental portraiture.
and mercury
used in the Collodion
photographic process that was invented by Frederick Scott Archer
in about 1850. The Illustrated Times praised him as "one of the most skillful photographers of the day". However, the death certificate
simply states 'febris' (fever
), 20 days. Howlett had originally told a friend he had a cold. Typhus
was also surmised as 1858 was the year of ‘The Great Stink
.
In 2009, the article The Light Shone and Was Spent: Robert Howlett and the Power of Photography by David White was published on PHOTO HISTORIES.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
photographer whose pictures are widely exhibited in major galleries. Howlett produced portraits of Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
heroes, genre scenes and landscapes. His photographs include the iconic picture of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
which was part of a commission by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(or Illustrated Times) to document the construction of the world's largest steamship, the SS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern was an iron sailing steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around the...
.
He exhibited at the London Photographic Society
Royal Photographic Society
The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...
and published “On the Various Methods of Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for Their Preservation.” He worked in partnership with Joseph Cundall
Joseph Cundall
Joseph Cundall , was a Victorian English writer under the pseudonym of "Stephen Percy", a pioneer photographer and London publisher of children's books. He provided employment for many of the best artists of the day by using them as illustrators.Joseph was the son of Eliza and Benjamin Cundall, a...
at "The Photographic Institution" at New Bond Street, London.
Howlett made photographic studies for the artist William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
's painting of The Derby Day
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art.
Howlett was commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Prince Albert was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria.Prince Albert may also refer to:-Royalty:*Prince Albert Edward or Edward VII of the United Kingdom , son of Albert and Victoria...
to photograph the frescoes in the new drawing-room at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
, make copies of the paintings by Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
and make a series of portraits called 'Crimean Heroes' which was exhibited in 1857 the Photographic Society of London's annual exhibition.
Howlett died in 1858, aged 27. The cause of death was probably as a result of over-exposure to the arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
and mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
used in the photographic process. The Illustrated Times praised him as "one of the most skillful photographers of the day".
Prints from Howlett's photographs were published posthumously by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company
London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company
The London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company began in 1854 as the London Stereoscope Company , from 1856 was known as the London Stereoscopic Company, and from May 1859 as the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company....
.
Life and work
Longham
Longham is a village situated in the Breckland District of Norfolk and covers an area of 540 hectares with a population of 219 in 100 households as of the 2001 census...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
by the time he was 9 years old. Robert's maternal grandfather, Thomas Harsant, a surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
, owned telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
s, microscopes, electrical machines, implements and instruments. Robert built his own microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
. Circa 1845, the parsonage in Longham had an electrical telegraph
Electrical telegraph
An electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electrical signals, usually conveyed via telecommunication lines or radio. The electromagnetic telegraph is a device for human-to-human transmission of coded text messages....
link to the local Manor House
Manor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
, this was only eight years after Samuel Morse filed his telegraphy patent in America. Thomas Harsant died in 1852 and left Robert £1000 plus his “turning lathe and all the apparatus and tools belonging thereto.” Robert was thus able to move to London He rose to prominence while working for the Photographic Institution at 168 New Bond Street, London, which was a leading establishment for the commercial promotion of photography through exhibitions, publications, and commissions. Although the Photographic Institution was established in 1853 by Joseph Cundall and Phillip Delamotte, it is believed that Howlett replaced Delamotte, who became professor of drawing at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
.
By 1856 Howlett was mentioned in the photographic press. He sent prints to the annual exhibitions of photographic societies in London, Manchester, and Norwich. These included landscape studies, In the Valley of the River Mole
River Mole, Surrey
The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north west through Surrey for to the Thames near Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district of Mole Valley...
, Mickleham
Mickleham, Surrey
Mickleham is a village and civil parish between the towns of Dorking and Leatherhead in Surrey, England covering . The parish includes the hamlet of Fredley.-History:Mickleham lies near to the old Roman road known as Stane Street...
, and Box Hill, Surrey
Box Hill, Surrey
Box Hill is a summit of the North Downs in Surrey, approximately south west of London. The hill takes its name from the ancient box woodland found on the steepest west-facing chalk slopes overlooking the River Mole. The western part of the hill is owned and managed by the National Trust, whilst...
, which are presumed to have been taken in 1855.
He exhibited at the London Photographic Society and in 1856 published a booklet “On the Various Methods of Printing Photographic Pictures upon Paper, with Suggestions for Their Preservation.” He also designed and sold 'dark room tents' and worked in partnership with Joseph Cundall at "The Photographic Institution" at 168 New Bond Street, London.
Howlett undertook the first of a number of commissions for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Prince Albert was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria.Prince Albert may also refer to:-Royalty:*Prince Albert Edward or Edward VII of the United Kingdom , son of Albert and Victoria...
in 1856, working for the Photographic Institution. These included copying the works of Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
for Prince Albert, and making a series of portraits of heroic soldiers from the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. These were first exhibited in 1857 as 'Crimean Heroes' at the Photographic Society of London's annual exhibition.Note: There are 2 discrete sets of 'Crimean Heroes' pictures. One by Howlett and the other by Joseph Cundall In 2004 Cundall and Howlett’s portraits of Crimean war veterans, were used by the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
for a set of six postage stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the conflict.
Howlett's studio portraits at 'The Photographic Institute' included eminent 'fine artists' such as William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
, Frederick Richard Pickersgill
Frederick Richard Pickersgill
Frederick Richard Pickersgill was an English painter and book illustrator. Born into a family of artists, he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1840...
, John Callcott Horsley
John Callcott Horsley
John Callcott Horsley RA , was an English Academic painter of genre and historical scenes, illustrator, and designer of the first Christmas card. He was a member of the artist's colony in Cranbrook.-Life:...
, and Thomas Webster
Thomas Webster (painter)
Thomas Webster , was an English genre painter, who lived for many years at the artists' colony in Cranbrook.-Life:Webster was born in Ranelagh Street, Pimlico, London...
which were among a larger group exhibited at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in 1857.
Howlett was commissioned to make photographic studies of the crowd at the 1856 Epsom Derby for the painter William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith , was an English painter specialising in genre subjects and panoramic narrative works of life in the Victorian era. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1852...
, who used them in 1858 for his painting of The Derby Day
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
which was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Art in 1959. The photographs were taken from the roof of a cab.
The Great Eastern
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(or Illustrated Times) to document the construction of the worlds largest steamship the SS Great Eastern. His images were translated into engravings for The Illustrated Times. They reflected and stimulated the widespread interest in this feat of engineering.
This project included the well known portrait of the Great western’s creator and engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, standing in front of the giant launching chains on the 'checking drum' braking mechanism at John Scott Russell
John Scott Russell
John Scott Russell was a Scottish naval engineer who built the Great Eastern in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and made the discovery that gave birth to the modern study of solitons.-Personal life:John Scott Russell was born John Russell on 9 May 1808 in Parkhead, Glasgow, the son of...
’s Millwall shipyard. It was taken to celebrate the launch of the world’s largest steamship, in November 1857.
This image, which depicts Brunel in an industrial setting instead of a more traditional background for a portrait, has been described as one of the first examples of environmental portraiture.
Death
Howlett died in 1858, aged 27, in lodgings at 10 Bedford Place, Campden Hill, shortly after returning from a trip to France to try out a new 'wide angle lens'. The cause of death was probably as a result of over-exposure to the arsenicArsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
and mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
used in the Collodion
Collodion process
The collodion process is an early photographic process. It was introduced in the 1850s and by the end of that decade it had almost entirely replaced the first practical photographic process, the daguerreotype. During the 1880s the collodion process, in turn, was largely replaced by gelatin dry...
photographic process that was invented by Frederick Scott Archer
Frederick Scott Archer
Frederick Scott Archer invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. He was born in Bishop's Stortford in the UK and is remembered mainly for this single achievement which greatly increased the accessibility of photography for the general public.tyler was...
in about 1850. The Illustrated Times praised him as "one of the most skillful photographers of the day". However, the death certificate
Death certificate
The phrase death certificate can describe either a document issued by a medical practitioner certifying the deceased state of a person or popularly to a document issued by a person such as a registrar of vital statistics that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death as later...
simply states 'febris' (fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
), 20 days. Howlett had originally told a friend he had a cold. Typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
was also surmised as 1858 was the year of ‘The Great Stink
The Great Stink
The Great Stink, or the Big Stink, was a time in the summer of 1858 during which the smell of untreated human waste was very strong in central London.-Water supply and sanitation prior to the Great Stink:...
.
Galleries showing Robert Howlett
- London, National Portrait Gallery
- London, Victoria and Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
- New York, Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs
- San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtSan Francisco Museum of Modern ArtThe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
- Cleveland Museum of ArtCleveland Museum of ArtThe Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
,
Modern tribute
In 2008, photojournalist David White recreated both Howlett's camera and the Brunel commission, travelling across south and west England.In 2009, the article The Light Shone and Was Spent: Robert Howlett and the Power of Photography by David White was published on PHOTO HISTORIES.