Alexander Bassano (10 May 1829 – 21 October 1913) was an English photographer who was a leading royal and high society
portrait photographer
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...
in
Victorian London
During the 19th century, London grew enormously to become a global city of immense importance. It was the largest city in the world from about 1825, the world's largest port, and the heart of international finance and trade. Railways connecting ...
.
He is known for his photo of the
Earl Kitchener
Earl Kitchener, of Khartoum and of Broome Park, Broome in the County of Kent, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1914 for the famous soldier Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener, 1st Ea ...
in the ''
Lord Kitchener Wants You
Lord Kitchener Wants You is a 1914 advertisement by Alfred Leete which was developed into a recruitment poster. It depicted Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, above the words "WANTS YOU". Kitchener, wearing the cap of a B ...
'' army recruitment poster during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and his photographs of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
Biography
Alessandro Bassano was the second youngest child of Italian Clemente Bassano, originally a
fishmonger
A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, me ...
of Cranbourne Street, later an oilman and
warehouseman
A warehouseman can be someone who works in a warehouse, usually delivering goods for sale or storage, or, in older usage, someone who owns a warehouse and sells goods directly from it or from a shop fronting onto the warehouse (similar to a modern ...
of
Jermyn Street
Jermyn Street is a one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing retailers.
Hist ...
, London, and his English wife, Elizabeth Browne. He later anglicised his first name to Alexander.
Bassano received early artistic training with artists
Augustus Egg
Augustus Leopold Egg RA (2 May 1816, in London – 26 March 1863, in Algiers) was a British Victorian artist, and member of The Clique best known for his modern triptych '' Past and Present'' (1858), which depicts the breakup of a middle-class ...
and William Beverley. He opened his first studio in 1850 in
Regent Street
Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...
. The studio then moved to
Piccadilly
Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...
1859–1863, to
Pall Mall and then to 25
Old Bond Street
Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...
in 1877. There was also a Bassano branch studio at 132 King's Road, Brighton from 1893 to 1899.
The Old Bond Street studio was decorated with carbon photographic prints and plaster busts, and was large enough to accommodate an 80-foot panoramic background scene mounted on rollers, which provided a variety of outdoor scenes or court backgrounds. He had taken portraits of
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
and even monarchs such as
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and
Cetshwayo kaMpande
King Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchw ...
. Bassano's head of
Lord Kitchener formed the basis of the
First World war
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
recruiting poster
''Your Country Needs You''. Bassano retired from work at the studio around 1903, when the premises were extensively refurbished and relaunched as "Bassano Ltd, Royal Photographers".
The studio moved once again in 1921: a move written about by the ''
Lady's Pictorial'' at the time. The article described about a million negatives, all systematically numbered, which had to be moved from the cellars of the premises to the new location at 38 Dover Street. The company became "Bassano and
Vandyk" in 1964. The following year it incorporated
Elliott & Fry
Elliott & Fry was a Victorian era, Victorian photography studio founded in 1863 by Joseph John Elliott (14 October 1835 – 30 March 1903) and Clarence Edmund Fry (1840 – 12 April 1897). For a century, the firm's core business was taking and pu ...
, a photographic partnership that had been running in
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...
since 1863. In 1977, the company became "Industrial Photographic", based at 35 Moreton Street, SW1.
Over 40,000 negatives from the Bassano Studios, including some by Alexander Bassano, are held in the
National Portrait Gallery, London. The
Museum of London
The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall, London, Gui ...
holds a large number of the fashion-related plates.
The National Portrait Gallery held an exhibit of his work
''Alexander Bassano: Victorian Photographer''in 2013, the centenary of his death.
Personal life
He married Adelaide Rose Ainslie Lancaster (1825-1906) in 1850. They had a son, Clement George Alexander (1853-1899), and two daughters, Adelaide Fanny Louise (1850-1921) and Camilla Teresa ('Lily') (1859-1928).
Portraits of his wife and children are held in the
National Portrait Gallery, London.
His sister
Louisa Bassano was a noted singer and teacher.
References
Sources
*Michael Pritchard, ''A directory of London photographers 1841–1908'' (Watford: PhotoResearch, 1994)
External links
*
Photographs by the Bassano Studioin the collection of the
National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
* Portraits of his wif
Adelaide Rose Ainslie Bassano (née Lancaster) so
Clement George Alexanderand daughter
Adelaide Fanny Louise Barber (née Bassano)Camilla Teresa ('Lily') Serjeant (née Bassano)in the collection of the
National Portrait Gallery, London
The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...
Brighton photographers*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassano Alexander
1829 births
1913 deaths
English people of Italian descent
British portrait photographers
19th-century English photographers
Photographers from London