Roger Fenton’s pictures helped raise awareness of conditions for soldiers during 1850s conflict
Haunting images capturing the stark reality of conflict by the Victorian pioneer war photographer Roger Fenton are to go on display in Scotland for the first time since 1856.
Fenton was commissioned to document the Crimean conflict, setting sail on board HMS Hecla in 1855 accompanied by 36 chests of cameras, glass plates, chemicals, a stove and other pieces of equipment, and using a converted wine merchant’s van as a travelling darkroom and accommodation for himself and two assistants.
His photographs were intended as source material for the artist Thomas J Barker, who had been commissioned to produce an oil painting of senior officers of the allied forces. The trip saw Fenton become the first to document conflict in such a substantial way at a time when photography was still in its infancy.
Barker used more than 50 of Fenton’s images to create the monumental work The Allied Generals With the Officers of Their Respective Staffs Before Sebastopol. Prints of popular paintings were a thriving market in the 19th century, and an engraving of Barker’s work was published in 1859 with a key to help the public identify the figures portrayed.
Fenton’s photographs, which were exhibited at the time, helped raise awareness of the conditions endured by soldiers at a time when the wounded began to arrive home and promoted concern for veteran welfare.
An exhibition, Shadows of War: Roger Fenton’s Photographs of the Crimea 1855, opens at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse on Friday and includes contributions by Prince Harry, who today helps highlight the plight of those returning from war.
On Fenton’s image of Lord Balgonie, the first visual record of someone suffering from “shell shock”, Harry says in the multimedia guide: “There has always been a fascination about people returning from war, what they have been through and what they have seen.
“The psychological impact of being on the battlefield is something that servicemen and women have had to deal with, but have often found it hard to talk about.
“As a result of photographers like Roger Fenton and those who have followed him, the public have gained a better appreciation of these experiences and consequently over the years this fascination has turned to appreciation and respect.”
Florence Nightingale, who was in Crimea in 1855, was a reluctant sitter for the camera and appears not to have been photographed by Fenton. Barker’s portrait of her on horseback seems to have been inspired by another Fenton photograph, Mr and Mrs Duberly.
Barker’s painting does reproduce some of Fenton’s portraits directly, including those of the Scottish General Sir Colin Campbell and the Times reporter William Howard Russell, as well as photographs of camp life such as 8th Hussars Cooking Hut.
William Howard Russell in a photo by Roger Fenton.
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