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Robert Thompson Crawshay
A Slow Market
1868
Albumen print, mounted
24.5 x 29 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum
Museum number: PH.9-1984
LL/66249
Curatorial description (Accessed: 29 March 2016)
Robert Crawshay was the fourth ‘Iron King’ of the Cyfarthfa Iron Works at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. In 1867 he became a member of the (Royal) Photographic Society.
A Slow Market was probably taken during the spring of 1868. It is beautifully made and carefully seen: the tear in the tablecloth echoes the open mouth of the nearest salmon. The photograph combines the popular genre motif of fisherfolk with a tradition of still life. It also shows the liking of the time for dressing up. Beneath the shawls and skirts is Crawshay’s daughter, Rose Harriette. On 23 March 1868 she wrote in her diary: ‘Papa came in with the ugliest, dirtiest, nastiest old straw bonnet that ever existed and a cap (thank goodness that was clean) for me to be photographed in as a fish woman which lasted till lunch time’.
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