Blomfield Photo Gallery
Photographs produced at John Blomfield's studio, Trinity House, Hastings (1867-1910)
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| [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated gentleman, photographed at the studio of Messrs W. & J. Blomfield, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1869). From 1867 to 1872, John Henry Blomfield was in partnership with his older brother William Knibb Blomfield. During this period the Blomfield brothers charged 8 shillings for a dozen cartes-de-visite and 5 shillings for six. | [ABOVE] The trade plate of Messrs W. & J. Blomfield, Trinity House, 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1869). The Blomfield brothers had adapted the former trade plate of Ayles & Bonniwell and the latter's claim to be "Photographists to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales" was retained by William and John Blomfield. The brothers also kept the Prince's heraldic badge, featuring three ostrich feathers, to indicate royal patronage. | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a seated woman holding a folded fan by J. H. Blomfield of 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1885). The back of the carte is inscribed "Mrs Thos. Swingler, Stanion, Thrapstone, Northamptonshire". The woman pictured was Elizabeth Tarry, who was born in Northamptonshire around 1852. In 1870, Elizabeth married George Drage, with whom she had at least five children. George Drage died in 1878 at the age of 29. In 1879, the twenty-seven year old widow married Thomas Swingler (1852-1904), a baker & grocer of Stanion, Northamptonshire. Mrs Elizabeth Swingler died in 1896 at the age of forty-four. | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a young man by J. H. Blomfield of Hastings. Inscribed in ink on the plain back is the name "Constance Clements". Presumably, this carte-de-visite portrait was sent as a personal gift to the lady in question. A young woman named Constance Clements (who was born at St Leonards on Sea, Sussex in 1875) is recorded as a young, unmarried woman of twenty-five and living in Hawkhurst, Kent at the time of the 1901 census. |
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| [ABOVE] The reverse of a carte-de-visite produced by J. H. Blomfield of 44 Robertson Street, Hastings (c1888). Twenty years on, Blomfield has retained the basic back design first used by Ayles & Bonniwell around 1865.The publicity featured on this cdv refers to Blomfield's Electric Light and Daylight Studios. Blomfield introduced electric lighting for "Special Evening Photography" around 1886. | [ABOVE] A Blomfield carte-de-visite portrait of a young couple of diminutive stature. This would be classed as a "celebrity carte-de-visite". When these two small people were photographed in the 1880s, they would have been famous personalities and a carte-de-visite like this would have been collected alongside portraits of actors and actresses, members of the Royal Family, sporting personalities and so on. Blomfield has copyrighted the portrait to prevent the production of pirated copies. | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite portrait of a woman holding a basket of ferns (c1890). Around this time, Blomfield abandoned the white card mounts, which featured the well-established trade plate design incorporating the Prince of Wales' heraldic badge on the reverse. From 1890 to around 1900, the studio of J. H. Blomfield used black card mounts with plain backs and gold edges. The name of the studio appeared on the front in gold lettering. | [ABOVE] A carte-de-visite vignette portrait of a young woman produced by J. H. Blomfield & Co.(c1900). The vignette portrait utilised a mechanical device to blur the edges of the image to simulate the subtle shading of a pencil or crayon drawing. The vignette portrait was a method of portraiture used by Blomfield in the 1860s, but his studio had the reputation of constantly introducing new photographic styles and techniques. |
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Click below to go to an account of the photographic career of John Henry Blomfield and William K. Blomfield of Hastings : |