Robert Henry Cheney British, c. 1800-1866
Robert Henry Cheney typified the talented English amateur of his day. Raised in comfort in Shropshire, he spent his twenties in Italy with his mother and brother, Edward, a graduate of Sandhurst and veteran of military duty in India. Both brothers were devotees of Roman society, published Gothic fiction that attracted little attention, and took an interest in art. In Venice Edward assembled an excellent collection of European works; Robert took up sketching and watercolor, possibly studying with British watercolorist Peter Dewindt.
Robert later returned to the family seat of Badger Hall in Shropshire, where in the 1840s he pursued landscape design, assumed local civic duties, and continued to sketch. He took up photography about 1850, recording for his pleasure and that of his circle not only Badger Hall and its environs, but also other architectural and landscape subjects throughout Britain. He used the waxed paper process, producing salt prints; some albumen prints were made later in the decade by his nephew, Colonel Alfred Capel-Cure. T.W.F.
