Henry Collen
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Henry Collen (9 October 1797, Middlesex – 8 May 1879, Brighton) was an English miniature
portrait painter Portrait painting is a Hierarchy of genres, genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commissio ...
to Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
and the Duchess of Kent. Later in life he turned to photography and was the first professional calotypist in London.


Portrait painter

Henry Collen was born on 9 October 1797 and
baptised Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
at St. Pancras, Middlesex. When he was 29, he married Ellen Dison, who was born in 1805 and had spent her childhood in Ireland. They were married on 12 August 1826 in
Maghera Maghera ( ; ) is a small town at the foot of the Glenshane Pass in Northern Ireland. Its population was 4,235 in the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. Formerly in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Loughinsholin within the historic County ...
in
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in Ireland. Henry Collen learned to paint at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
and, from 1819, under the tutelage of Sir George Hayter whose family had been, and remained close personal friends of the Collen family. In fact, in her letters, Ellen states that she met Henry at the home of John Hayter, Sir George's younger brother, also a prolific painter. Henry Collen was the godfather of Sir George Hayter's third son Angelo Collen Hayter (1819–1898) who was an amateur painter and Sir George Hayter was the godfather of Henry's son Edwin (1843–1911), who was baptised Edwin Henry Hayter Collen.
In the eighteen-thirties, Henry Collen was personally acquainted with young Princess Victoria, being her drawing teacher and her miniature portrait painter ... For her fourteenth birthday on 24 May 1833 Victoria received a 'little painting for my album' from Collen, and on at least two occasions she sat for her portrait by him.
Henry Collen made a fairly moderate living as a portrait painter in London in the mid-19th century. Between 1820 and 1872 he exhibited at least one hundred paintings at the Royal Academy and the SBA (Society of British Artists), and by 1821 he had won a silver medal at the Royal Academy. One of the four Henry Collen portraits was of a John Avery titled "Surgeon", which is a watercolour miniature on ivory, being only 8" × 5". This piece is on display at Bodelwyddan Castle, as are two other works, an oil painting on panel of Robert Vernon by
George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
and Henry Collen, painted in 1848 and a portrait of Henry Bickersteth, Baron Langdale, painted in 1829, entitled Master of the Roles. This piece is also a watercolour miniature on ivory and only 4" × 3. There are two pictures of Charles Mayne Young. One is another watercolour on ivory, painted in 1824. The other is a mezzotint published in 1826 but is not on display. Another piece that is not on display is a stipple engraving of Jane Elizabeth, Countess of Ellenborough, published in 1829. So, in all, six portraits that hang in the NPG are "associated" with Henry Collen. The
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
has a regular miniature of a man, which is 4 in. × 3in., signed H. Collen/1846, the H and C being separate. The National Portrait Gallery has a miniature of Baron Langdale by Collen, 1829. The Wallace Collection has a miniature of Sarah the Countess of Warwick by Collen, 1825, after Hayter. At
Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...
are several miniatures by Collen, including portraits of the Duchess of Kent (1829) and Lady Catherine Vernon Harcourt (1838). One of them is a copy after Hayter. The Duke of Northumberland has a miniature of Lady Margaret Percy by Collen. According to G. Scharf's ''Third Portion of a Catalogue of Pictures.... Duke of Bedford,'' 1878, p. 109:
The Duke of Bedford has an oval miniature of a lady, about 35/8 in. × 27/8 in., signed in front with a scratched signature "H Collen 1840" (the H and C not forming a monogram) and inscribed at the back "1840/painted by Henry Collen/Miniature Painter to/ The Queen and H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent/29 Somerset St /Portman Square/London." It is broader in treatment than many of his earlier works.
The
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
has some engraved portraits by Collen. Henry Collen worked in the company of many respected artists in mid-19th century London, as well as important scientists of his day. He collaborated in the early 1840s with the famous astronomer, John Frederick William Herschel. He may have associated with the artist
Thomas Sully Thomas Sully (June 19, 1783November 5, 1872) was an English-American portrait painter. He was born in England, became a naturalized American citizen in 1809, and lived most of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including in the Thomas Sull ...
and his wife. Besides being close to the Hayter family, who were already established artists, Henry and Ellen were also close friends of
Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. His best-known work is the lion sculptures at the base of Nelso ...
, the well-known painter of animals and pastoral English landscapes as well as the designer of the four bronze lions at the base of Nelson's Column in
Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...
, London. Landseer was the godfather of Henry's only son, Edwin. In the book of printed correspondence between Ellen and Edwin Collen, titled ''Letters from my Mother,'' Ellen mentioned that Landseer sent a note and a gift at Edwin's baptism. She also mentions going to the funeral of Charles Landseer.


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 Electrotyping (also galvanoplasty) is a chemical method for forming metal parts that exactly reproduce a model. The method was invented by a Prussian engineer Moritz von Jacobi in Russia in 1838, and was immediately adopted for applications in ...
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
Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th c ...
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 attempting to earn an income." (A chart describing the differences between calotypes and daguerreotypes is included in the Appendix (What appendix? Was this stolen from some book?). In August 1841, Fox Talbot licensed Henry Collen as the first professional photographer or calotypist. 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 favourable 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 Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers. Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an arts degree, he became interested i ...
and Francis Frith, and the portraiture of
Antoine Claudet file:Ada Byron daguerreotype by Antoine Claudet 1843 or 1850 - cropped.png, Ada Byron's daguerreotype by Claudet, . Antoine François Jean Claudet (August 18, 1797 – December 27, 1867) was a French Photography, photographer and artist active i ...
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 recognised as it may have been if the portraits had remained intact.


Scientific photography

In the 1844-46 period, Collen interacted with inventor
Francis Ronalds Sir Francis Ronalds Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (21 February 17888 August 1873) was an English scientist and inventor, and arguably the first History of electrical engineering, electrical engineer. He was knighted for creating the first wo ...
, Honorary Director of the
Kew Observatory The King's Observatory (called for many years the Kew Observatory) is a Grade I listed building in Richmond, London. Now a private dwelling, it formerly housed an astronomical observatory, astronomical and Terrestrial magnetism, terrestrial mag ...
. Ronalds was developing machines to make continuous recordings of the variations of
meteorological Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agriculture ...
parameters using photography. Collen in fact published the first paper written on the instruments. Ronalds put on record that "Collen claims a share in my inventions unjustly"; his view was that Collen’s advice to him had concerned only photographic processing techniques. Ronalds went on to build and describe various different photo-recording machines in a series of reports and papers, which were employed in observatories around the world until well into the 20th century.


Photocopier

In the late 1970s, Larry Schaaf wrote about the contributions of Henry Collen to the field of photography in its early stages in London in the 19th century. Schaaf's premise was that Collen's work was indeed noteworthy, and had perhaps been overshadowed by the earlier work of William Henry Fox Talbot in the same field. The information on the following pages comes from Mr. Schaaf's article titled, "Henry Collen and the
Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese ...
," which appeared in The
History of Photography The history of photography began with the discovery of two critical principles: The first is camera obscura image projection; the second is the discovery that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...
, an international quarterly, October 1982. The Treaty of Nanking was signed on 29 August 1842. The treaty signalled the end of the "Opium Wars" between China and England. It also ceded the island of Hong Kong to England and was of great commercial and psychological importance to the British Empire. Photography was in its infancy. Daguerre's method had the "ability to record the fine detail" but would have supplied "only a small metal plate as a facsimile of the rice paper." Talbot's process was far more suitable for copying the original treaty, and so authorities turned to the first man licensed to practice in London" and the man who had the know-how to make the photographic copy of the treaty.(Schaaf) Schaaf states, "Henry Collen was in the unique position of both owning the patent rights and of having access to the circles of power. As miniature-painter to the Queen, he would have been in a position to discuss such a project with the proper people..." On Christmas Day, Collen produced at least two photographic copies of the original document handwritten in ink. "Copying a four-foot -long document with delicate lettering out to the edges would be quite difficult, especially in 1842" (Schaaf). He goes on to state that he thinks Collen merits a great deal more study than he had been given to that date. Since Larry Schaaf wrote his 1982 article about the Treaty of Nanking, R. Derek Wood has written another article titled "Photocopying the Treaty of Nanking in January 1843." In it, Wood includes new information about the number of copies produced by Henry Collen and their whereabouts. It seems that the original treaty was brought to London for the Queen's signature after Collen made the copy. At the last minute, it was decided that an extra copy should be made to hang at
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, which is why Collen was working on it on Christmas Day. Wood believes that three copies were made in all. The copy that hung at the palace is thought to have been discarded but there is a copy at the International Museum of Photography and Film at the
George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...
in
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. It is in book form, 22 and 16 pages in English and Chinese, respectively, and is bound in leather. (see photo) Mr. Wood's article deciphers the long journey of this copy and the location of the original Chinese document. Collen's copies were taken to China, but by 1877 the original could not be located. It seems that when in the very last few days of June in 1997, as Hong Kong was passed back to the People's Republic of China, a(n)....announcement was made to reveal that Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalist forces had secretly taken the original Treaty of Nanking when they retreated to Taiwan from China in 1949. And the documents have been hidden in a sealed vault of the Taiwan Foreign Ministry. (Wood) Meanwhile, in 1952, the George Eastman House was offered for purchase one of Henry Collen's copies from a dealer of rare books in California. It was unknown how this dealer had obtained this copy. Wood's article also includes copies of bills for production costs and copies of the treaty (included in Appendix). At any rate, even after such seemingly important strides in the infant field of photography, Henry Collen still had unsurmountable hurdles to face in his attempts to make photography a financially viable profession. The problem, in part, was due to the nature of his relationship to Talbot. The relationship between Henry Collen and Henry Talbot seems quite complex. They were probably good friends. Talbot originated the calotype process and licensed Collen to practice it. Henry paid Talbot a fair share of his profits. Collen worked to perfect the process and invested considerable time and energy into this work. He wanted patent protection rights from Talbot because of this. Talbot stalled in this area. As mentioned earlier, Talbot had the scientific knowledge and Collen the artistic, but for some reason, Talbot did not pursue the business possibilities attendant to the caloytype process. When Collen was asked to photograph the Treaty of Nanking, Talbot's wife later lamented about why Talbot himself hadn't done the job "for her Majesty." (Schaaf). Schaaf also states that Talbot for some reason did not share all of his expertise with Collen, and at some point Henry's lack of scientific know-how limited his ability to experiment further. Henry Collen had taken over one thousand calotype portraits but had received payment for only 265 of them. It was not profitable for Collen or Talbot to continue. He ended his calotype business in 1844 and retired to St. Albans in 1861. He had photographed some of the most important people of his day and his photographic work was respected enough to hang in Buckingham Palace. The largest collections of his photographic works are in the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y. and The Science Museum in London as well as the Fox Talbot Museum and the Royal Photographic Society. In spite of an unfortunately shortened photographic career, Henry Collen is mentioned and published in various journals of photography and science (see appendix).


References


Further reading

*Larry Schaaf: "Henry Collen and the Treaty of Nanking," ''History of Photography,'' Number 4, October 1982, an "Addenda to Henry Collen and the Treaty of Nanking," Volume 7, Number 2, April–June 1983. *Robert A. Sobieszek: "British Masters of the Albumen Print: A selection of Mid-Nineteenth Century Victorian Photography," International Museum of Photography at
George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...
and the University of Chicago Press, *R. Derek Wood (1994 and 1997): "Photocopying the Treaty of Nanking in January 1843, Parts 1 (1994) and 2 (1997)", published online at https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20100311230213/http://www.midley.co.uk/Nanking/Nanking.htm and see also R. D. Wood (1996), 'The Treaty of Nanking: Form and the Foreign Office, 1842–1843', Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (London) 24 (May 1996), 181–196 *Articles about Henry Collen. London Electrical Society: 14 June 1841. Collen wrote a letter to John Peter Gassiot describing some experiments made in electrotyping Daguerreotype plate. *The Literary Gazette: 12 March 1842. Mentions his patent of the calotype with regards to portraiture. *The Chemist: 28 April 1842. This article compliments his calotype portraiture and the improved color of the complexion. "Mr. Collen is the only person licensed by the patentee to take portraits by this process." *The Journal of the Photographic Society: 21 April 1854. In this issue a letter from Henry Collen appeared regarding the earliest stereoscopic portraits. *The British Journal of Photography: 2 September 1864. An article titled "'Good Old Times' of Photography and Modern Innovations," discusses the first stereoscopic portrait ever taken – by Mr. Collen of Mr. Babbage. Describes his transition from miniature portrait painter on ivory to making scientific experiments with Mr. Talbot's calotype. Includes much discussion and examination of his lens, which was made to his specifications by Mr. Andrew Ross, optician. Ends by saying Mr. Collen is now retired to the quiet town of St. Albans. *The British Journal of Photography: 27 October 1865. This was an article written and submitted by Henry Collen entitled, "Natural Colour in Photography." The introduction states, "Henry Collen, miniature painter to the Queen and first to take a photograph on paper professionally has some thoughts on the possibility of the production of photographs in colour." Henry Collen's words: "...obtain a negative sensitive to blue rays only, obtain a second sensitive to red rays only and a third sensitive to yellow rays only. There will thus have been three plates obtained for printing in colours......Although the idea I have endeavored to express in word may be utterly worthless, I am unwilling to let it slip away without notice, as it may, on the other hand, contain a germ which may grow and bear fruit in due season." *The British Journal of Photography: 24 November 1865. This article is titled "Photography in Natural Colours," by Henry Collen and is a letter to the editors regarding apparent response to the above article. It seems he may have received some criticism about it. *The British Journal of Photography: 21 July 1876. "Odic Photography" In this article Collen explains experiments he did to see if light emanating from magnets or crystals in darkness was capable of influencing the daguerreotype plate. His work was based on scientific research by Baron von Reichenbach.


External links


Portraits

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Victoria, Duchess of Kent (1786–1861)
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Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817)
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Leopold I, King of the Belgians (1790–1865)
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National Portrait Gallery, 7 portraits
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Ask Art-The Artist's Blue Book
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Photography

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PhotoLondon, Biography
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Queen Victoria with her daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal
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* " ttp://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10302252 John George Children, English scientist, c 1841. *
Queen Victoria's Family: A Century of Photographs 1840–1940
by Charlotte Zeepvat (Author) (Hardcover book review)" *
Queen Victoria's Second Passion, by Bill Jay
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The Painted Photograph by Heinz K. Henisch
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Young Boy, 1863
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Young Girl, 1863
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collen, Henry 19th-century English photographers 19th-century English painters English male painters 1879 deaths 1797 births Painters from the London Borough of Camden Photographers from the London Borough of Camden 19th-century English male artists People from St Pancras, London