Henry Collen - Portrait Photographer

Portrait Photographer

By the 1840s, Henry Collen was established as a portrait painter of some note. It is also at this time that his photographic work became known. In March 1840 Collen became interested in experimenting with electrotyping daguerreotype plates for printing purposes. By spring he was experimenting extensively with the calotype processes, the lenses, the paper, etc. (Schaaf)

Calotype was an early photographic process developed by W.Henry Fox Talbot who was a colleague of Collen's. Talbot supplied the photographic knowledge and Collen the artistic know-how. In an article titled "Photography in the 1840s," Peter Marshall describes the distinction between daguerreotypes and calotypes. "The daguerrotype spread rapidly around the world...There were some limitations on the spread." Daguerre's process was somewhat limited by his prior patent in the UK, and so only those professionals who could afford a license were able to do so. Meanwhile, Talbot patented his calotype process in the UK and the US, but he was unable to get a patent in France which also limited its growth. Also, Marshall states, "In general, most professional photographers used the daguerreotype process in the 1840s, while the calotype was generally favored by those who were not atttempting to earn an income." (A chart describing the differences between calotypes and daguerreotypes is included in the Appendix).

"In August, 1841, Fox Talbot licensed Henry Collen as the first professional photographer, or calotypist." (source: www.terramedia.co.uk/Chromomedia/years/1840-1844.htm)

He then set himself up as a calotype portraitist in August 1841, in what was probably the first calotype portrait studio, at 29 Somerset Street, Portman Square, London (between Oxford Street and Manchester Square) near the present sight of Selfridge's. "Licenses were expensive. Talbot took 30 percent of Collen's takings for his use of the process" (Marshall). Henry received favorable responses from his colleagues about the quality of his portraits. He took approximately one thousand portraits using the calotype process. "Collen's photographic miniatures were a compromise between the old art of miniature painting and the new art of photography - they were overpainted paper photographs. The earliest extant photograph of Queen Victoria was almost certainly taken by Collen in 1844 or 1845." (Bill Jay)

Robert A. Sobieszek had this to say about photography and Henry Collen in Victorian England:

"During the Victorian period, 'artistical' photographs were customarily judged on four points: First, that they were exact replicas of Nature's form and appearance. Second, they were to communicate the "feeling, sentiment, or sensations of Nature" and be able to cause similar emotional reactions. Third, and more vague, the artistic photograph was to record the romantic expressions and impressions of this same Nature. And, fourth, the final photograph was to be formally and spiritually perfect, reflecting Nature's perfections. The landscapes of Roger Fenton and Francis Frith, and the portraiture of Antoine Claudet and Henry Collen . . . are clear and certain applications of the above prescriptions to photographic picture-making." (Sobieszek)

The distinguishing feature of Henry Collen's photographic portraits was the fact that as an artist, he could touch up his portraits with paint. When he enhanced with paint, he was able to charge a bit more for them. Unfortunately, as time has passed, the silver of the photographs has faded, but the paint has not, so the portraits have an uneven, exaggerated, faded and sometimes splotchy look. It is thought that this is one reason why Collen's work in photography has not been recognized as it may have been if the portraits had remained intact.