John Jabez Edwin Mayall - Mayall and J. M. W. Turner

Mayall and J. M. W. Turner

Soon after establishing his studio in the Strand, Mayall became acquainted with the landscape painter, English artist J.M.W.Turner (1775–1851). Turner visited Mayall's premises regularly from 1847 to 1849, yet only at the end of their acquaintance did Mayall realise who the elderly man who took an interest in his work was.

Turner was fascinated by the light effects captured by Mayall's camera and he showed particular interest in his daguerreotypes of the Niagara Falls. "He wished me to copy my views of Niagara - then a novelty in London - and inquired of me about the effect of the rainbow spanning the great falls."

He and Turner exchanged "ideas about the treatment of light and shadow." He took "several admirable daguerreotype portraits" of Turner. It appears that these portraits were not straightforward likenesses, but attempts to create Rembrandt-like figure studies.

Mayall stressed the artistic qualities of his daguerreotypes. In April 1847, 'The Athenaeum' had published an article on [[Fine Art Daguerreotype Studios and favourably his daguerreotypes with the work of William Edward Kilburn (1819–1891) who had also opened a studio in London and was gaining a reputation for his coloured daguerreotype portraits which aspired to the art of miniature paintings.

In these early years, Mayall was finding it hard to make his way as a daguerreotypist in London. Mayall commented that at this point in his career "I was a struggling artist, much devoted to improving my art." In correspondence with G. Walter Thornbury, Turner's biographer, Mayall recalled that the old artist offered encouragement when he was losing heart: "When somewhat desponding on my success one day, I told him London was too large for a man with slender means to get along. He sharply turned round and said, "No, no; you are sure to succeed; only wait. You are a young man yet."

It seems that Mayall was worried about the financial cost of possible legal action from Richard Beard, the patentee of the daguerreotype process in England. Mayall told Thornbury, "I was at that time fighting the battle of the patent rights of the daguerreotype." This struggle with Richard Beard is alluded to by William Constable, the daguerreotype licensee in Brighton, who referred to Beard's conflict with a "photographer from Philadelphia."

By August 1848, Mayall placed advertisements describing himself as "Mr. Mayall of Philadelphia, United States." Mayall called his studio/gallery the "American Daguerreotype Institution".

In March 1849, Mayall exhibited at the Royal Institution claiming his daguerrotype portrais were the largest daguerreotype portraits ever taken in England. In the 1840s, the largest size of daguerreotype was the 'whole plate' measuring 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches. Mayall's daguerreotypes were reported to be two or three times the size of the conventional 'whole plate'.