Marking time in May 2010
Tuesday 11 May 2010
Daniel Marquis in Scotland
Four more cartes-de-visite have joined my little collection of the work of the photographer Daniel Marquis (1829-1879). These give us a glimpse of the work he did in Scotland, before he emigrated to Australia.
These portrait photographs, with their well-dressed subjects, painted backdrops, studio props, (and even a not-quite-hidden head clamp), are typical cartes of the 1860s.
All four are conventional portraits, mounted on cards with a lithographic backmark of D Marquis: photographer: Barnton Place: Stirling. I surmise from these examples that Daniel was already a competent photographer operating from a properly equipped studio.
The back of the vignetted portrait of the young man (leftmost carte in the set above). The pencil note reads A Bennie: 24 July: 1863. Daniel Marquis arrived in Brisbane in September 1865.
Sunday 2 May 2010
Mumbles Lighthouse
Another old postcard (or six), another old lighthouse I want to visit. Mumbles Lighthouse. Mmm, great name.
Natural Arch, Mumbles, Valentine’s Series postcard, postmarked 28 August [19]12. The front of the postcard has the number 59647, a clue that the picture was taken in the late 1900s.
Mumbles Head and lighthouse, anonymous postcard numbered PT27671.
Mumbles lighthouse & battery, anonymous postcard, pre-1918.
Mumbles Head, anonymous photographic print postcard, dated 11-7-44 in pencil on the back.
Mumbles Pier and Lighthouse, Valentine Series postmarked 1907.
Mumbles Lighthouse and Natural Arch, postcard published by F Frith & Co, Reigate, No 32782.