Henry Cundell

Henry Cundell (1810-1886) was a Scottish painter, artist, and early photographer. He exhibited for a short time in the 1850s.

Henry Cundell
Born1810
Died1886
NationalityScottish
Occupation(s)painter, artist, and early photographer
London in 1844

Biography

Trade card in the British Museum collection says

Henry Cundell, Chymist and Druggists... Makes and Sells all Sorts of Cymical and Galenical Medicines, with all Sorts of Drugs, Pyrmont and Spa Waters, &c. Physicians Perscriptions carefully Prepar'd, & Medicine-Chests fitted out in the neatest Manner, &c. likewise, Hamilton's Tincture for the Tooth-Ach [sic], and preserving the Teeth and Gums... Spirit of Pepper-Mint, Perfectly pure... Spirit of Penny-Royal & Mint...Pectoral Balsam of Honey... Chymical liquor for the Itch... [etc., etc.].[1]

Henry Cundell's photographs are often attributed to either his brothers—George, Joseph, and Edward—or to his contemporary, Joseph Cundall.[lower-alpha 1] Sara Stevenson and A. D. Morrison-Low wrote that Henry Cundell "figured in touring exhibitions set up by the London Society of Arts between 1852 and 1854. His photographs ranged from pictures taken in North Wales, to Perthshire, Durham, and Kensington."[4]

His best-known photo of London in 1844 was wrongly attributed to Joseph Cundall.[4] Julie L. Mellby of the Princeton University wrote about that calotype:

One day in 1844, twenty-six year old Joseph Cundall walked from his printing shop on Old Bond Street down to the Thames River carrying the box camera he recently designed and built, along with bottles of’ silver nitrate and gallic acid. Once settled on the Blackfriars Bridge, under a black cloth, he painted the chemistry onto some writing paper that had already been treated with silver nitrate and potassium iodide and then, inserted it into the camera. Focusing on St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance, Cundall opened the lens and made a single exposure. This calotype (paper negative) was used later to make several positive prints, one of which was given to his friend, optician Richard Willats, who pasted it into an album. That album and what might be the earliest photograph taken by Joseph Cundall is now at Princeton University.[5]

Notes
  1. "Joseph Cundall was a publisher, author and photographer from Norwich who was involved in setting up the Photographic Club (sometimes known as the Calotype Club) in 1847."[2][3]

References
  1. "DRAFT Trade card of Henry Cundell, Chemist". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  2. "Henry and Lucy Cundell". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  3. "Mr.and Mrs Cundell [Henry & Lucy Cundell]". Capital Collections. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  4. Mellby, Julie (29 September 2016). "Henry Cundell 1810-1886, not Joseph Cundall 1818-1895". Graphic Arts. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  5. "London in 1844 - Graphic Arts". www.princeton.edu. Retrieved 22 February 2022.

Further reading
  • Stevenson, Sara (2015). Scottish photography : the first thirty years. Edinburgh. ISBN 978-1905267972.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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