Sir J. Montagu Steele (1820-1890), Military Secretary, Crimea
1855
Medium
Thinly albumenized print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 21.7 × 17 cm (8 9/16 × 6 3/4 in.); Mount: 30 × 22.3 cm (11 13/16 × 8 13/16 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
126360
Art Historical Context
Roger Fenton’s 1855 portrait captures Sir J. Montagu Steele, Military Secretary during the Crimean War, in a moment of quiet dignity. As one of the earliest photographers to document a major conflict, Fenton traveled to the Crimea with the British army, producing a remarkable series of images that brought the faces of the war home to Victorian audiences. This albumen silver print exemplifies his sensitive approach to portraiture, presenting Steele not as a distant figure but as an individual shaped by the demands of military administration. The photograph’s thinly albumenized surface and mode...
About the Artist
Roger Fenton · 1819–1819
Roger Fenton (1819–1869), born into a prosperous Lancashire merchant family as the son of banker and MP John Fenton, initially pursued a scholarly path, earning a first-class BA from the University of London in 1840 before studying law at University College London. He abandoned these pursuits for art, training as a painter under the history painter Charles Lucy in London by 1847—the two became clo...