Francis Bedford British, 1816 -- 1894
Francis Bedford, one of the most respected 19th-century British photographers, was the son of an ecclesiastical architect and painter. He also took up painting and lithography before turning to photography in the early 1850s. Having achieved substantial recognition for his landscape, portrait, and architectural work, in 1862 Bedford was commissioned by Queen Victoria to accompany the Prince of Wales on a tour of the Middle East. Working with his son William, Bedford produced some 210 large collodion negatives taken in countries surrounding the Mediterranean. He exhibited more than 170 of the images on his return, and published approximately four dozen in smaller format in The Holy Land, Egypt, Constantinople, Athens, etc. (1866). He also produced other portfolios on such subject matter as Tintern Abbey and the city of Chester.
Although widely known for the products of his commercial studio, Bedford's achievement lies more in the style he developed -- one unusually sensitive to landscape and architecture, and capable of conveying the harmonious relationship between nature and man enjoyed by Victorian viewers. Bedford was a founding member of the Royal Photographic Society and continued to be active in photography, exhibition, publishing, and sales of his work until his death. T.W.F.
