Antoine Sonrel (died 1879) was an illustrator, engraver, and photographer in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, in the 19th century. He moved from

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

to the United States around the late 1840s, and was affiliated with

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...

throughout his career. As a photographer he created numerous

carte de visite The ''carte de visite'' (, visiting card), abbreviated CdV, was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero. Each photograph was the size o ...

portraits in the 1860s and 1870s; subjects included his friend Agassiz,

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

Abbott Lawrence Rotch Abbott Lawrence Rotch (January 6, 1861 – April 7, 1912) was an American meteorologist and founder of the Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, the longest continually operating observation site in the United States and an important site for w ...

, and sculptor

Anne Whitney Anne Whitney (September 2, 1821 – January 23, 1915) was an American sculptor and poet. She made full-length and bust sculptures of prominent political and historical figures, and her works are in major museums in the United States. She received ...

Biography

Around the 1830s in Neuchâtel, Sonrel began creating scientific illustrations for Louis Agassiz. "Draftsmen of superior talent, trained ... to the greatest accuracy — Weber, Dinkel, and Sonrel — were constantly in gassiz'semploy at a regular salary. ... At the suggestion of Agassiz an extensive lithographic establishment was created in Neuchatel." Agassiz wrote in 1857: "I esteem myself happy to have been able to secure the continued assistance of my old friend, Mr. A. Sonrel, in drawing the zoological figures of my work. More than twenty years ago, he began to make illustrations for my European works ; and ever since he has been engaged, with short interruptions, in executing drawings for me." In the United States, Sonrel lived in Boston on Acorn Street in Beacon Hill (c. 1850),

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

(c. 1873), and in

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of government, in which an elected mayor is ...

(c. 1852-1874). He kept a studio in Boston at 46 School Street (c. 1860s) and Washington Street (c. 1871-1874). Sonrel exhibited lithographs in the 1851

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

in London and in the 1853 exhibition of the

Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association The Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association (est.1795) of Boston, Massachusetts, was "formed for the sole purposes of promoting the mechanic arts and extending the practice of benevolence." Founders included Paul Revere, Jonathan Hunnewell, a ...

Notes

References

Image gallery

;Works by Sonrel File:1878 Oeufs de coucou engr bySonrel Neuchatel.png, Oeufs de coucou, lithograph by "Sonrel, Neuchatel," 19th century File:1849 AstrangiaDanae bySonrel.png, From: ''The Anatomy of Astrangia Danae'', 1849 File:1850 LakeSuperior bySonrel 4.png, From: ''Lake Superior'', 1850. File:1862 NaturalHistory USA byAgassiz illus by Clark and Sonrel 2.png, From: Louis Agassiz. ''Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America'', 1862. File:1868 Sonrel Photographers BostonDirectory.png, Advertisement for A. Sonrel, photographer,

School Street School Street is a short but significant street in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is so named for being the site of the first public school in the United States (the Boston Latin School, since relocated). The school operated at various ...

, Boston, 1868 File:1872 LouisAgassiz byASonrel Harvard.png, Portrait of Louis Agassiz, by Sonrel, 1872 File:1874 AnneWhitney bySonrel ArchivesAmericanArt.png, Portrait of

, 1874 File:Woman bySonrel Boston 19thc.png, Portrait of an unidentified woman, 19th century File:MrPettee byASonrel 19thc HagleyMuseum.png, Portrait of Mr. Pettee, 19th century

External links

* * * Cambridge Historical Society, Massachusetts
Flickr
Portrait of unidentified child by Sonrel
Flickr
Portrait of Agassiz by Sonrel {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonrel, Antoine Swiss photographers American lithographers Scientific illustrators Year of birth missing 1879 deaths Photographers from Massachusetts Artists from Boston Swiss emigrants to the United States 19th century in Boston 19th-century American photographers People from Beacon Hill, Boston People from Woburn, Massachusetts

Biography

Notes

References

Further reading

Works illustrated by Sonrel

About Sonrel

Image gallery

External links