Hi Everyone,
What a wonderful hobby this is. We discover so much in the process !!
Firstly, the image in the National Portrait Gallery is a Calotype albumen
print photograph not a painting. The subject of the photo, Mark NAPIER,
(1798-1879) was an Attorney in Edinburgh, held the rank of Major-General
so presumably had been in the army in his youth, and was Sheriff of
Dumfries, Scotland for 35 years.
William Esdaile CATTLEY (1819-1888 - son of William CATTLEY of Cattleya
Orchid fame), a somewhat younger contemporary of Mark NAPIER, was a
barrister at Lincoln's Inn. He had a beloved property in Tain, Ross and
Cromarty, Scotland. He was a wealthy and generous man who probably wore
glasses or had a monocle as he owed the Optician 5s 8d. when he died. He
obviously had his father's love of gardening because he owed one seed
merchants around 3 pounds, and another £6.13.3 - but that one also sold
wine <grin>.
I have no proof, but I believe W.E.C. would in every likelihood have met
and become friendly with Mark Napier because of their occupations, the
social life in Scotland, and his need for an advocate in Scotland where
English law did not apply.
Because English patents did not apply in Scotland these clever lawyers
(along with others in the Edinburgh Calotype Club played with advancing the
Calotype process to vastly improve it). The portrait is a very advanced
version of early Calotype photography that uses an egg-white finish to
enable multiple and much improved copies of a photograph. Thus the
"Albumen print" For more details see :
http://www.nls.uk/pencilsoflight/history.htm
http://albumen.stanford.edu/library/monographs/masters/the_albumen_print....
I know that W E CATTLEY died in Tain in Scotland in 1888 from his will,
of which I have a copy. He had no children and nor did his siblings, so
he left his estate to the children of his cousins - and therein lies a very
hard knot to unravel as all his aunts and uncles married into his maternal
GARRATT or DUGMORE lines; sorting them out is beyond me at this time. You
don't happen to know the name of the SANDYS-LUMSDAINE cousin who lives in
Ireland do you Tim ? I have been in touch with him but seem to have lost
his email address.
Opinions and proofs welcome.
Cheers......... Erica
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mailto:erica@hillsperth.com