Cheltenham, the Promenade
1860/94
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 12.6 × 19.8 cm (5 × 7 13/16 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
38391
Art Historical Context
**Cheltenham, the Prom** (1860/94) by Francis Bedford the refined elegance of this English spa town's iconic street during the Victorian era. Bedford, a pioneering British photographer for his topographical work, documented architectural landmarks and landscapes with remarkable clarity. Cheltenham, famed for its Regency architecture and healing waters, drew fashionable visitors seeking leisure and health; the Promenade, lined with curving colonnades and shops, epitomized this genteel resort culture in the mid-19th century. Printed as an albumen silver print—a dominant process from the 1850s t...
About the Artist
Francis Bedford · 1816–1894
Francis Bedford (1816–1894) was a pioneering British photographer, born in London as the eldest son of the church architect Francis Octavius Bedford.) He trained as an architectural draughtsman and lithographer, exhibiting drawings of architectural subjects from his late teens and listing "Lithographic Artist" as his profession in the 1851 census.) In the early 1850s, Bedford turned to photography...