Francis Bedford was an outstanding English landscape photographer of the 19th century, who photographed for over 40 years and worked closely with the royal court. Bedford was born into an architect's family and initially worked as a draftsman, designing buildings. He took up photography in the early 1850s, and soon, on behalf of the Queen, photographed a collection of objects in Marlborough House - the future exposition of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Later, he went to the German city of Coburg, where he took a series of photographs of Prince Albert's native places. More orders and new trips followed. His stereo images taken during a trip to England and Wales were recognized at the time as some of the best landscape works.
For many years, Bedford perceived photography more as an art form, so he corrected the pictures: he drew in objects, emphasized small details with a pencil and a brush, and sometimes darkened the image. Over time, he stopped using additional tools, but began to take more photographs. Over 43 years of active work, he made about 9,000 collodion negatives and albumen prints - a colossal number for that time.
Today, small sets of up to 10 Bedford photographs are bought at English auctions for 300-500 pounds. One of the largest sales took place in 2009 at the Swann Galleries auction in New York, when three albums with photographs taken in the Middle East went under the hammer for 132 thousand dollars.
Source:
rct.uk
