Luminous-Lint - for collectors and connoisseurs of fine photography
HOME  BACK>>> Subscriptions <<< | Testimonials | Login |

Getting around

 

HomeContentsVisual IndexesOnline ExhibitionsPhotographersGalleries and DealersThemes
AbstractEroticaFashionLandscapeNaturePhotojournalismPhotomontagePictorialismPortraitScientificStill lifeStreetWar
CalendarsTimelinesTechniquesLibrarySupport 
 

Stereographs Project

 
   Introduction 
   Photographers 
      A B C D E F G H  
      I J K L M N O P  
      Q R S T U V W X  
      Y Z  
   Locations 
   Themes 
   Backlists
 

HomeContents > People > Photographers > Joseph James Forrester

Names:
Other: Joseph James barão de Forrester 
Other: Joseph James Baron de Forrester 
Other: Joseph James Baron Forrester 
Dates:  1809, 27 May - 1861, 12 May
Born:  England, Kingston-upon-Hull
Died:  Portugal, São João da Pesqueira, Cachão da Valeira
Active:  Portugal
 
  
Early photographer in Portugal.

Preparing biographies

Approved biography for Joseph James Forrester
Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)

 
  
Born in England to Scottish parents, Forrester moved to Oporto, Portugal, in 1831 to join his uncle in the port wine business. He had ample leisure time to work in watercolors and chalk (he was an unusually accomplished amateur artist), and particularly to pursue his passion for cartography. Forrester’s map of the Douro River, completed in 1843 and based on his own survey, became the standard for navigation. In 1844 his gently titled A Word or Two on Port Wine shook up the industry and led to necessary reforms. Forrester took lessons in photography from Hugh Welch Diamond, probably growing out of their shared interest in archaeological photography. Like Diamond he preferred a close variation of Talbot’s original calotype process that involved waxing after the negative was developed. In 1854 Forrester wrote to the Journal of the Photographic Society that he was “about to plant my camera amongst the mountain scenery of Portugal, which I am desirous graphically to describe, and photographically to illustrate.” The French photographic critic and historian Ernst Lacan recalled that Forrester had been “accused of exaggeration and inexactitude” in his descriptions of Portugal and desired a “means to prove he had told the truth,” but, whatever the motivation, his output was prodigious. Introducing his contribution to The Photographic Album for the Year 1855, Forrester said his Margins of the Douro was but one of a series of 220 negatives. He showed a similar view in the 1855 exhibition of the Photographic Society in London, but otherwise contributed primarily to exchange club albums. Also in 1855, the queen of Portugal, reflecting the gratitude of a nation, made Forrester a baron. Charles Piazzi Smyth stopped by Oporto on his way to Tenerife to take lessons from Forrester in the new stereo photography. In 1861 the very river that Forrester had mapped claimed his life when his boat was smashed on the rocks, the Douro never yielding up his body. 
  
Roger Taylor & Larry J. Schaaf Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007) 
  
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is included here with permission. 
  
Date last updated: 4 Nov 2012. 
  
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT 
  
We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial.
 
If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible.
 
  

Further research

 
 Premium content for those who want to understand photography
 
References are available for subscribers.There is so much more to explore when you subscribe. 
Subscriptions 
 
Thumbnail
Unidentified photographer
Joseph James Forrester 
n.d.
 
  
Family history 
  
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch. 
  
alan@luminous-lint.com
 
  
 
  

Visual indexes

 
 Premium content for those who want to understand photography
 
Visual indexes for this photographer are available for subscribers.There is so much more to explore when you subscribe. 
Subscriptions 
 
  
 
  
 
  
HOME  BACK>>> Subscriptions <<< | Testimonials | Login |
 Facebook LuminousLint 
 Twitter @LuminousLint