Robert Howlett (1831-1858)
Group portrait of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and associates at the launching of the Great Eastern, 1857
£4,284
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 07 February 2024 from 10:00 GMT
Description
Arch-topped albumen print photograph (24 x 22cm), on old mount, framed and glazed, a few blemishes including pale strip of discolouration across centre [NPG x4994]
Footnote
The sitters in this photograph (from left to right) are identified by the National Portrait Gallery as: possibly John Trotman; George William Frederick Howard, 7th Earl of Carlisle; Lord Alfred Henry Paget; John Yates; then Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Robert Howlett’s iconic images of the construction of the Great Eastern are remembered as ‘some of the most significant photographs of the 19th century’ (Hannavy, Encyclopaedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, 2008, vol. 1, pp. 717-18). The Great Eastern was by far the largest ship ever built at the time, and remained so when she was scrapped in 1888. Though an unprecedented marvel of engineering, the project was a financial disaster. Brunel died a few days after her departure on its maiden voyage in 1859. Howlett himself had died the previous year, his colleagues believing that his untimely death had been brought about by the chemicals used in his photographic work; his Great Eastern series is today regarded as ‘epitomizing the spirit of Victorian engineering and endeavour’ (ODNB).