Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an
Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first
war photographers
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
. He is noted for his
genre works
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
, portraits, and views and
panoramas
A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...
of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
region. Beato's travels gave him the opportunity to create images of countries, people, and events that were unfamiliar and remote to most people in Europe and North America. His work provides images of such events like the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
and the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
, and represents the first substantial body of
photojournalism
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
. He influenced other photographers, and his influence in Japan, where he taught and worked with numerous other photographers and artists, was particularly deep and lasting.
Early life and identity
A death certificate discovered in 2009 shows that Beato was born in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in 1832 and died on 29 January 1909 in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. The death certificate also indicates that he was a
British subject
The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...
and a bachelor.
[Bennett, ''History of Photography in China, 1842–1860,'' p. 241.] It is likely that early in his life Beato and his family moved to
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
, at the time part of the British
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
of the
Ionian Islands, and so Beato was a British subject.
Because of the existence of a number of photographs signed "Felice Antonio Beato" and "Felice A. Beato", it was long assumed that there was one photographer who somehow photographed at the same time in places as distant as Egypt and Japan. In 1983 it was shown by Chantal Edel that "
Felice Antonio Beato" represented two brothers, Felice Beato and Antonio Beato, who sometimes worked together, sharing a signature. The confusion arising from the signatures continues to cause problems in identifying which of the two photographers was the creator of a given image.
Mediterranean, the Crimea and India
Little is certain about Felice Beato's early development as a photographer, though it is said that he bought his first and only lens in Paris in 1851.
[Clark, Fraser, and Osman, p. 90.] He probably met the British photographer
James Robertson in Malta in 1850 and accompanied him to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
in 1851. James Robertson became his brother-in-law in 1855. Superintendent of the Imperial Mint, Robertson opened one of the first commercial photography studios in the capital between 1854 and 1856. Robertson had been an engraver at the Imperial Ottoman Mint since 1843 and had probably taken up photography in the 1840s. In 1853 the two began photographing together and they formed a partnership called "Robertson & Beato" either in that year or in 1854, when Robertson opened a photographic studio in
Pera, Constantinople. Robertson and Beato were joined by Beato's brother Antonio on photographic expeditions to
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
in 1854 or 1856 and to Greece and
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 1857. A number of the firm's photographs produced in the 1850s are signed "Robertson, Beato and Co.", and it is believed that the "and Co." refers to Antonio.
![Image-Secundra Bagh after Indian Mutiny higher res](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Image-Secundra_Bagh_after_Indian_Mutiny_higher_res.jpg)
In late 1854 or early 1855, James Robertson married Beato's sister, Leonilda Maria Matilda Beato. They had three daughters, Catherine Grace (b. 1856), Edith Marcon Vergence (b. 1859), and Helen Beatruc (b. 1861).
In 1855 Felice Beato and Robertson travelled to
Balaklava
Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Crim ...
, Crimea, where they took over reportage of the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
following
Roger Fenton
Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers.
Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested i ...
's departure. Beato was ostensibly Robertson's assistant, however, the unpredictable conditions of a war-zone forced Beato to assume a more active role. In contrast to Fenton's depiction of the dignified aspects of war, Beato and Robertson showed the destruction and death. They photographed the fall of
Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
in September 1855, producing about 60 images. Their Crimean images dramatically changed the way that war was reported and depicted.
In February 1858 Beato arrived in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
and began travelling throughout
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
to document the aftermath of the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
. During this time he produced possibly the first-ever photographic images of corpses.
[Zannier, "Beato", p. 447.] It is believed that for at least one of his photographs taken at the palace of
Sikandar Bagh
Sikandar Bagh ( hi, सिकन्दर बाग़, ur, سِکندر باغ), formerly known by the British as Sikunder/Sikandra/Secundra Bagh, is a villa and garden enclosed by a fortified wall, with loopholes, gateway and corner bastions, ...
in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
he had the skeletal remains of Indian rebels disinterred or rearranged to heighten the photograph's dramatic impact (see
events at Taku Forts). He was also in the cities of
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
,
Cawnpore
Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...
,
Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
,
Benares
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tr ...
,
Amritsar
Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...
,
Agra
Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...
,
Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...
, and
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
. Beato was joined in July 1858 by his brother Antonio, who later left India, probably for health reasons, in December 1859. Antonio ended up in Egypt in 1860, setting up a photographic studio in
Thebes in 1862.
China
In 1860 Beato left the partnership of Robertson & Beato, though Robertson retained use of the name until 1867. Beato was sent from India to photograph the Anglo-French military expedition to China in the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
. He arrived in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in March and immediately began photographing the city and its surroundings as far as
Canton.
[Clark, Fraser, and Osman, pp. 92–93.] Beato's photographs are some of the earliest taken in China.
While in Hong Kong, Beato met
Charles Wirgman
Charles Wirgman (31 August 1832 - 8 February 1891) was an English artist and cartoonist, the creator of the ''Japan Punch'' and illustrator in China and Meiji period-Japan for the ''Illustrated London News''.
Wirgman was the eldest son of Ferdi ...
, an artist and correspondent for the ''
Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...
.'' The two accompanied the Anglo-French forces travelling north to
Talien Bay, then to
Pehtang and the
Taku Forts
The Taku Forts or Dagu Forts, also called the Peiho Forts are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary in the Binhai New Area, Tianjin, in northeastern China. They are located southeast of the Tianjin urban center.
History
The f ...
at the mouth of the
Peiho
The Hai River (海河, lit. "Sea River"), also known as the Peiho, ("White River"), or Hai Ho, is a Chinese river connecting Beijing to Tianjin and the Bohai Sea.
The Hai River at Tianjin is formed by the confluence of five watercourses: the S ...
, and on to
Peking
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and
Qingyi Yuan, the suburban Summer Palace.
For places on this route and later in Japan, Wirgman's (and others') illustrations for the ''Illustrated London News'' were often derived from Beato's photographs.
Taku Forts
Beato's photographs of the Second Opium War are the first to document a military campaign as it unfolded,
[Lacoste, p. 10.] doing so through a sequence of dated and related images. His photographs of the Taku Forts represent this approach on a reduced scale, forming a narrative recreation of the battle. The sequence of images shows the approach to the forts, the effects of bombardments on the exterior walls and fortifications, and finally the devastation within the forts, including the bodies of dead Chinese soldiers.
The photographs were not taken in this order, as the photographs of dead Chinese had to be taken first—before the bodies were removed; only then was Beato free to take the other views of the exterior and interior of the forts.
Dr. David F. Rennie, a member of the expedition, noted in his campaign memoir, "I walked round the ramparts on the west side. They were thickly strewn with the dead, in the northwest angle, thirteen were lying in one group around a gun. Signor Beato was here in great excitement, characterising the group as 'beautiful,' and begging that it might not be interfered with until perpetuated by his photographic apparatus, which was done a few minutes afterwards."
Summer Palace
Just outside Peking, Beato took photographs at Qingyi Yuan (now Yihe Yuan, the Summer Palace), a private estate of the Emperor of China comprising palace pavilions, temples, a large artificial lake, and gardens. Some of these photographs, taken between 6 and 18 October 1860, are unique images of buildings that were plundered and looted by the Anglo-French forces beginning on 6 October. On 18 and 19 October, the buildings were torched by the British First Division on the orders of
Lord Elgin
Earl of Elgin is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1633 for Thomas Bruce, 3rd Lord Kinloss. He was later created Baron Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, in the Peerage of England on 30 July 1641. The Earl of Elgin is the h ...
as a reprisal against the emperor for the torture and deaths of twenty members of an Allied diplomatic party. Bennett writes that "These
hotographsappear to be the earliest images of Peking so far discovered, and are of the utmost historical and cultural importance."
Among the last photographs that Beato took in China at this time were portraits of Lord Elgin, in Peking to sign the
Convention of Peking
The Convention of Peking or First Convention of Peking is an agreement comprising three distinct treaties concluded between the Qing dynasty of China and Great Britain, France, and the Russian Empire in 1860. In China, they are regarded as amon ...
, and
Prince Kung, who signed on behalf of the
Xianfeng Emperor
The Xianfeng Emperor (17 July 1831 – 22 August 1861), or by temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing (), given name Yizhu (), was the eighth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigned from 1850 t ...
.
Beato returned to England in October 1861, and during that winter he sold 400 of his photographs of India and China to
Henry Hering
Henry Hering (February 15, 1874 – January 15, 1949) was an American sculptor.
Early career
He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York. He then went to Paris wher ...
, a London commercial portrait photographer.
Japan
![Satsuma-samurai-during-boshin-war-period](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Satsuma-samurai-during-boshin-war-period.jpg)
By 1863 Beato had moved to
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
, Japan, joining
Charles Wirgman
Charles Wirgman (31 August 1832 - 8 February 1891) was an English artist and cartoonist, the creator of the ''Japan Punch'' and illustrator in China and Meiji period-Japan for the ''Illustrated London News''.
Wirgman was the eldest son of Ferdi ...
, with whom he had travelled from Bombay to Hong Kong.
[Bennett, ''Photography in Japan, 1853–1912,'' p. 94.] The two formed and maintained a partnership called "Beato & Wirgman, Artists and Photographers" during the years 1864–1867, one of the earliest and most important
commercial studios in Japan. Wirgman again produced illustrations derived from Beato's photographs, while Beato photographed some of Wirgman's sketches and other works. (Beato's photographs were also used for engravings within
Aimé Humbert
Aimé Humbert-Droz (29 June 1819, in La Chaux-de-Fonds – 19 September 1900, in Neuchâtel) was a Swiss politician, traveler and educator.
He was elected President of the Swiss Council of States in 1856 and President of the Union Horlogère Su ...
's ''Le Japon illustré'' and other works.) Beato's Japanese photographs include portraits, genre works, landscapes, cityscapes, and a series of photographs documenting the scenery and sites along the
Tōkaidō Road, the latter series recalling the
ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...
of
Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川 広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.
Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...
and
Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...
. During this period, foreign access to (and within) the country was greatly restricted by the
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. Accompanying ambassadorial delegations
[Gartlan, "Felix Beato", p. 129.] and taking any other opportunities created by his personal popularity and close relationship with the British military, Beato reached areas of Japan where few westerners had ventured, and in addition to conventionally pleasing subjects sought sensational and macabre subject matter such as heads on display after decapitation. His images are remarkable not only for their quality but also for their rarity as photographic views of
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
Japan.
[Bennett, ''Photography in Japan, 1853–1912'', p. 97.]
The greater part of Beato's work in Japan contrasted strongly with his earlier work in India and China, which "had underlined and even celebrated conflict and the triumph of British imperial might". Aside from the ''Portrait of Prince Kung'', any appearances of Chinese people in Beato's earlier work had been peripheral (minor, blurred, or both) or as corpses. With the exception of his work in September 1864 as an official photographer on the British military expedition to
Shimonoseki
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushim ...
,
Beato was eager to portray Japanese people, and did so uncondescendingly, even showing them as defiant in the face of the
elevated status of westerners.
Beato was very active while in Japan. In 1865 he produced a number of dated views of
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
and its surroundings.
From 1866 he was often caricatured in ''Japan Punch,'' which was founded and edited by Wirgman.
[Bennett, ''Photography in Japan, 1853–1912'', p. 95.] In an October 1866 fire that destroyed much of Yokohama, Beato lost his studio and many, perhaps all, of his negatives.
While Beato was the first photographer in Japan to sell albums of his works, he quickly recognised their full commercial potential. By around 1870 their sale had become the mainstay of his business. Although the customer would select the content of earlier albums, Beato moved towards albums of his own selection. It was probably Beato who introduced to photography in Japan the double concept of views and costumes/manners, an approach common in photography of the Mediterranean. By 1868 Beato had readied two volumes of photographs, "Native Types", containing 100 portraits and genre works, and "Views of Japan", containing 98 landscapes and cityscapes.
Many of the photographs in Beato's albums were
hand-coloured, a technique that in his studio successfully applied the refined skills of
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
watercolourists and
woodblock printmakers to European photography.
From about the time of the ending of his partnership with Wirgman in 1869, Beato attempted to retire from the work of a photographer, instead, attempting other ventures
[Bennett, ''Photography in Japan,'' p. 86.] and delegating photographic work to others within his own studio in Yokohama, "F. Beato & Co., Photographers", which he ran with an assistant named H. Woollett and four Japanese photographers and four Japanese artists.
[Clark, Fraser, and Osman, p. 103.] Kusakabe Kimbei
Kusakabe Kimbei (日下部 金兵衛; 1841–1934) was a Japanese photographer. He usually went by his given name, Kimbei, because his clientele, mostly non-Japanese-speaking foreign residents and visitors, found it easier to pronounce than his ...
was probably one of Beato's artist-assistants before becoming a photographer in his own right. These other ventures failed, but Beato's photographic skills and personal popularity ensured that he could successfully return to work as a photographer.
Beato photographed with
Ueno Hikoma
was a pioneer Japanese photographer, born in Nagasaki. He is noted for his fine portraits, often of important Japanese and foreign figures, and for his excellent landscapes, particularly of Nagasaki and its surroundings. Ueno was a major figure ...
, and possibly taught photography to
Raimund von Stillfried.
![SaigoTsugumichiAndBeato1882](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/SaigoTsugumichiAndBeato1882.jpg)
In 1871 Beato served as official photographer with the
United States naval expedition of
Admiral Rodgers to Korea.
Although it is possible that an unidentified Frenchman photographed Korea during the
1866 invasion of
Ganghwa Island
Ganghwa Island (Hangul ; Hanja ), also known by its native name Ganghwado, is a South Korean island in the estuary of the Han River. It is in the Yellow Sea, off Korea's west coast. The island is separated from Gimpo (on the South Korean mainla ...
, Beato's photographs are the earliest of Korea whose provenance is clear.
Beato's business ventures in Japan were numerous. He owned land and several studios, was a property consultant, had a financial interest in the Grand Hotel of Yokohama,
and was a dealer in imported carpets and women's bags, among other things. He also appeared in court on several occasions, variously as plaintiff, defendant, and witness. On 6 August 1873 Beato was appointed
Consul General
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
for Greece in Japan.
In 1877 Beato sold most of his stock to the firm
Stillfried & Andersen,
who then moved into his studio. In turn, Stillfried & Andersen sold the stock to
Adolfo Farsari
Adolfo Farsari (; 11 February 1841 – 7 February 1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama, Japan. His studio, the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan, was one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photograph ...
in 1885. Following the sale to Stillfried & Andersen, Beato apparently retired for some years from photography, concentrating on his parallel career as a financial speculator and trader. On 29 November 1884 he left Japan, ultimately landing in
Port Said
Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...
, Egypt. It was reported in a Japanese newspaper that he had lost all his money on the Yokohama silver exchange.
[Clark, Fraser, and Osman, p. 112.]
Burma and later years
![Hman Kyaung Mandalay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Hman_Kyaung_Mandalay.jpg)
From 1884 to 1885 Beato was nominated as the official photographer of the
Nile Expedition
The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan af ...
led by Baron (later Viscount)
G.J. Wolseley to
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, Sudan, in relief of
General Charles Gordon.
Arriving in April 1885, however, he had missed the unsuccessful relief mission by three months and had to turn his attention to documenting the withdrawal of Wolseley's troops to the coastal town of
Suakin
Suakin or Sawakin ( ar, سواكن, Sawákin, Beja: ''Oosook'') is a port city in northeastern Sudan, on the west coast of the Red Sea. It was formerly the region's chief port, but is now secondary to Port Sudan, about north.
Suakin used to b ...
.
Briefly back in England in 1886, Beato lectured the London and Provincial Photographic Society on photographic techniques.
He arrived in Burma probably in December 1886, after Upper Burma had been annexed by the British in late 1885. Much publicity had been made in the British press about the three
Anglo-Burmese Wars
The Anglo-Burmese Wars were a clash between two expanding empires, the British Empire against the Konbaung Dynasty that became British India‘s most expensive and longest war, costing 5–13 million pounds sterling (£400 million – £1.1 billio ...
, which had started in 1825 and culminated in December 1885 with the fall of
Mandalay
Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).
Mandalay was fo ...
and the capture of King
Thibaw Min
Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါမင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...
.
Beato, who had covered military operations in India and China, was probably attracted by the news of the annexation. While he arrived in Burma after the main military operations ended, he would still get to see more of the action, as the annexation by the British led to an insurgency which lasted for the following decade. This allowed Beato to take a number of pictures of the British military in operations or at the
Royal Palace
This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent.
Africa
* Abdin Palace, Cairo
* Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo
* Koubbeh Palace, Cairo
* Tahra Palace, Cairo
* Menelik Palace
* Jubilee Palace
* Guenete Leul Palace
* Imperial Palace- Massa ...
, Mandalay, as well as insurgency soldiers and prisoners.
Beato set up a photographic studio in Mandalay and, in 1894, a curiosa and antiques dealership, running both businesses separately and, according to records at the time, very successfully.
His past experience and the credibility derived from his time in Japan brought him a large clientele of opulent locals, posing in traditional attire for official portraits. Other images, from Buddhas to landscapes and buildings, were sold from master albums in Burma and Europe.
In 1896, Trench Gascoigne published some of Beato's images in ''Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies'' and, the following year,
Mrs Ernest Hart's ''Picturesque Burma'' included more, while George W. Bird in his ''Wanderings in Burma'' not only presented thirty-five credited photographs but published a long description of Beato's businesses and recommended visitors to come by his shop.
By that time, Beato's photographs had come to represent the very image of Burma to the rest of the world, which it would remain for decades to come.
As his curios business developed, with branches in
Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
, Mandalay but also in Colombo and London, he also acquired the Photographic Art Gallery in Mandalay in 1903, another photographic studio. In his old age, Beato had become an important business party in Colonial Burma, involved in many enterprises from electric works to life insurance and mining.
Death and legacy
Although Beato was previously believed to have died in Rangoon or Mandalay in 1905 or 1906, his death certificate, discovered in 2009, indicates that he died on 29 January 1909 in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, Italy.
Whether acknowledged as his own work, sold as Stillfried & Andersen's, or encountered as anonymous engravings, Beato's work had a major impact:
For over fifty years into the early twentieth century, Beato's photographs of Asia constituted the standard imagery of travel diaries, illustrated newspapers, and other published accounts, and thus helped shape "Western" notions of several Asian societies.
Photographic techniques
Photographs of the 19th century often now show the limitations of the technology used, yet Beato managed to successfully work within and even transcend those limitations. He predominantly produced
albumen silver prints from
wet collodion glass-plate
negatives.
Beato pioneered and refined the techniques of
hand-colouring photographs and making panoramas. He may have started hand-colouring photographs at the suggestion of Wirgman, or he may have seen the hand-coloured photographs made by partners Charles Parker and William Parke Andrew.
[Bennett, ''Early Japanese Images,'' p. 39.] Whatever the inspiration, Beato's coloured landscapes are delicate and naturalistic and his coloured portraits, more strongly coloured than the landscapes, are appraised as excellent. As well as providing views in colour, Beato worked to represent very large subjects in a way that gave a sense of their vastness. Throughout his career, Beato's work is marked by spectacular panoramas, which he produced by carefully making several contiguous exposures of a scene and then joining the resulting prints together, thereby re-creating the expansive view.
[Lacoste, pp. 8–9.] The complete version of his panorama of
Pehtang comprises seven photographs joined almost seamlessly for a total length of more than 2 metres (6 1/2 ft).
See also
*
History of photography 1850-1900
* ''
Felice...Felice...'', a 1998 Dutch drama loosely based on Beato's time in Japan
*
Sakoku
was the Isolationism, isolationist Foreign policy of Japan, foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate under which, for a period of 265 years during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1868), relations and trade between Japan and other countri ...
*
List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868
This list contains notable Europeans and Americans who visited Japan before the Meiji Restoration. The name of each individual is followed by the year of the first visit, the country of origin, and a brief explanation.
16th century
* Two Portugu ...
*
Felice A. Beato
*
Baron Raimund von Stillfried
Baron Raimund von Stillfried, also known as Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Rathenitz (6 August 1839, in Komotau, Bohemia – 12 August 1911, in Vienna, Austrian-Hungarian Empire), was an Austrian military officer and early professional photographer i ...
*
John McCosh, 19th-century photographer in Burma
*
Philip Adolphe Klier, 19th-century photographer in Burma
*
List of Orientalist artists
This is an incomplete list of artists who have produced works on Orientalist subjects, drawn from the Islamic world or other parts of Asia. Many artists listed on this page worked in many genres, and Orientalist subjects may not have formed a m ...
*
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
Footnotes
Citations
References
* ''Bakumatsu Nihon no fūkei to hitobito: Ferikkusu Beato shashinshū'' (). Yokohama: Akashi Shoten, 1987. .
* Baldwin, Gordon, Malcolm Daniel, and Sarah Greenough. ''All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852–1860.'' New Haven:
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, 2004. ; .
* Banta, Melissa, and Susan Taylor, eds. ''A Timely Encounter: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Japan.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press, 1988. .
* Bennett, Terry. ''Early Japanese Images.'' Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, 1996. .
* Bennett, Terry.
Felice Beato and the United States Expedition to Korea of 1871. Old Japan. Accessed 3 April 2006.
* Bennett, Terry. ''History of Photography in China, 1842–1860.'' London: Bernard Quaritch, 2009. .
* Bennett, Terry. "Korea". In ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography,'' 2: pp. 804–806. New York: Routledge, 2008. .
* Bennett, Terry. ''Photography in Japan, 1853–1912.'' North Clarendon, Vermont: Tuttle, 2006. .
* Bird, George W. ''Wanderings in Burma'', Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., London 1897.
* Broecker, William L., ed. ''International Center of Photography Encyclopedia of Photography.'' New York: Pound Press; Crown, 1984. .
* Choi Injin and Park Juseok. ''The Century of Korean Photography: Images from the Land of the Morning Calm.'' Seoul: RIHP, 2001. .
* Clark, John. "A chronology of Charles Wirgman (1832?–1891)". In Clark, ''Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA,'' pp. 25–58. Sydney: Power Publications, 2001.
* Clark, John. ''Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA: Papers and Research Materials.'' Sydney: Power Publications, 2001. .
* Clark, John, John Fraser, and Colin Osman. "A revised chronology of Felice (Felix) Beato (1825/34?–1908?)". In Clark, ''Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA.'' Sydney: Power Publications, 2001.
* Dehejia, Vidya, et al. ''India through the Lens: Photography 1840–1911.'' Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery; Ahmedabad: Mapin; Munich, Prestel, 2000. .
* Dobson, Sebastian. "'I been to keep up my position': Felice Beato in Japan, 1863–1877". In Rousmaniere and Hirayama, eds, ''Reflecting Truth: Japanese Photography in the Nineteenth Century,'' pp. 30–39. Amsterdam : Hotei, 2004. .
* Dobson, Sebastian. "Japan." In ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography,'' 2: pp. 769–773.
* ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography.'' 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2008. .
*
Felice Beato" Luminous Lint. Accessed 19 August 2011.
* Gartlan, Luke. "A chronology of Baron Raimund von Stillfried-Ratenicz (1839–1911)." In Clark, ''Japanese Exchanges in Art, 1850s to 1930s with Britain, Continental Europe, and the USA,'' pp. 121–178. Sydney: Power Publications, 2001.
* Gartlan, Luke. "Felix Beato". In ''Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography,'' 2: pp. 128–131.
* Gernsheim, Helmut. ''The Rise of Photography: 1850–1880: The Age of Collodion.'' London: Thames and Hudson, 1988. .
* Gray, Ezio. ''Le terre nostre ritornano... Malta, Corsica, Nizza''. Novara: De Agostini Editoriale, 1943. .
* Greenough, Sarah. "'A new starting point': Roger Fenton's life". In Baldwin, Daniel, and Greenough, ''All the Mighty World,'' pp. 2–31. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. .
* Griffiths, Alan.
Second Chinese Opium War (1856–1860). Luminous-Lint. Accessed 3 April 2006.
* Handy, Ellen. "Tradition, novelty and invention: Portrait and landscape photography in Japan, 1860s–1880s". In Banta and Taylor, eds, ''A Timely Encounter : Nineteenth Century Photographs of Japan,'' pp. 53–71. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum, 1988. .
* Harris, David. ''Of Battle and Beauty: Felice Beato's Photographs of China.'' Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1999. .
* Hart, Mrs Ernest. ''Picturesque Burma'', J.M. Dent & Co., London 1897.
* Himeno, Junichi. "Encounters with foreign photographers: The introduction and spread of photography in Kyūshū". In Rousmaniere and Hirayama, eds, ''Reflecting Truth: Japanese Photography in the Nineteenth Century,'' pp. 18–29. Amsterdam : Hotei, 2004. .
* Hockley, Allen. "Photo albums and their implications for the study of early Japanese photography". In Rousmaniere and Hirayama, eds, ''Reflecting Truth: Japanese Photography in the Nineteenth Century,'' pp. 66–85. Amsterdam : Hotei, 2004. .
* Kanai Madoka (), ed. ''Egakareta Bakumatsu Meiji: Irasutoreiteddo Rondon Nyūsu Nihon tsūshin 1853–1902'' (). Tokyo: Yushodo, 1973.
* Lacoste, Anne. ''Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2010.'' .
* Lowry, John. "Victorian Burma by Post: Felice Beato's Mail-Order Business", ''Country Life'', 13 March 1975, pp. 659–660.
* Masselos, Jim, and Narayani Gupta. ''Beato's Delhi 1857, 1957.'' Delhi: Ravi Dayal, 2000. .
* O'Connor, Scott & Clarence, Vincent. ''The Silken East'', Volume I & II. Hutchinson & Co. Paternoster Row, London 1904.
* O'Connor, Scott & Clarence, Vincent. ''Mandalay and Other Cities of the Past in Burma'', Hutchinson & Co. Paternoster Row, London 1907.
*
Pare, Richard.
Photography and Architecture: 1839–1939'' Montréal:
Centre Canadien d'Architecture/Canadian Centre for Architecture; New York: Callaway, 1982. .
*
Pare, Richard. "Roger Fenton: The artist's eye". In Baldwin, Daniel, and Greenough, ''All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852–1860,'' pp. 221–230. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. .
* Peres, Michael R. ''Focal Encyclopedia of Photography: Digital Imaging, Theory and Applications.'' 4th ed. Amsterdam: Focal Press, 2007. . ''S.v.'' "Copying".
* Rasch, Carsten. ''Photographien aus dem alten Japan – Felice Beato und seine Photographien aus der Edo-Ära''. Hamburg, 2014. .
* Rennie, David Field. ''The British Arms in Northern China and Japan: Pekin 1860; Kagoshima 1862.'' London: John Murray, 1864. Availabl
hereat Google Books.
* Robinson, Bonnell D. "Transition and the Quest for Permanence: Photographer and Photographic Technology in Japan, 1854–1880s". In Banta and Taylor, eds, ''A Timely Encounter: Nineteenth-Century Photographs of Japan,'' pp. 39–52. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Peabody Museum Press, 1988. .
*
Rosenblum, Naomi. ''A World History of Photography.'' 3rd ed. New York: Abbeville Press, 1997. .
* Rousmaniere, Nicole Coolidge, and Mikiko Hirayama, eds. ''Reflecting Truth: Japanese Photography in the Nineteenth Century.'' Amsterdam: Hotei, 2004. .
* ''Thacker's Indian Directory''. Thacker, Spink & Co. 3 Esplanade East, Calcutta, India. Issues from 1863 to 1915.
* Trench Gascoigne, Gwendolen. ''Among Pagodas and Fair Ladies'', A. D. Innes & Co. Bedford Street, London 1896.
* Vaczek, Louis, and Gail Buckland. ''Travelers in Ancient Lands: A Portrait of the Middle East, 1839–1919.'' Boston: NYGS, 1981. .
* Zannier, Italo. "Beato." In ''The Dictionary of Art'' (34 vols; New York: Grove, 1996; ), 3:446–447.
* Zannier, Italo. ''Antonio e Felice Beato.'' Venice: Ikona Photo Gallery, 1983. .
External links
Biography of Felice Beato with links to 40 photographs. J. Paul Getty Museum.
(53 images including landscapes and portraits). The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
* "
ttp://dl.lib.brown.edu/libweb/collections/askb/beato.php Photographic views of Lucknow taken after the Indian Mutiny. Brown University Library; Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection.
Photographs by Beato "Japanese Old Photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period". Nagasaki University Library.
Catalogue search for "Felice Beato" with digitized reproductions o
121 photographs Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between r ...
.
* . Asia through the Lens. Bachmann Eckenstein Art & Antiques, 2006. Archived by the
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
on 9 May 2007.
Catalogue search for "Beato, Felice" New York Public Library.
(74 images from China and India). Wellcome Library, London.
*
ttps://www.fostinum.org/felice-beato.html Fostinum: Felice Beato*
ttps://artsandculture.google.com/entity/felice-beato/m0dqhzt Felice Beato at Google Arts & Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beato, Felice
1832 births
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