Los 4068

Maull & Polyblank
(active 1856-1865)Portraits of British public figures

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Portraits of British public figures. Circa 1857-1864. 4 Woodburytypes, mounted to card with printed gilt border. Each 20 x 14,8 cm (26,5 x 21,6 cm). Titled in pencil or ink by hand on the mount below the image; photographer’s credit printed on the mount: “Photographed by Maull & Polyblank, 55, Gracechurch Street and 187a, Piccadilly, London.”

This group of early photographic portraits by the London studio Maull & Polyblank features prominent figures of mid-Victorian public life. Among them are Sir Richard Owen, the pioneering comparative anatomist and founder of the Natural History Museum in London, shown with a fossil specimen; Sir William Sterndale Bennett, influential composer and Principal of the Royal Academy of Music; Lord Stanley, later the 15th Earl of Derby and a three-time British Foreign Secretary; and Charles Kean, celebrated Shakespearean actor and theater manager. Taken between 1857-1864, these portraits exemplify the studio’s ambition to create a visual pantheon of British cultural and political leadership. – Some minor scuff-marks and surface irregularities, otherwise very strong tonal prints in near excellent condition.