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opened the fi rst photography studio in Peru while Berlin’s
fi rst studio opened in August of 1842 (McElroy 1977).
Photohistorian Keith McElroy notes that photographers
active in Peru during the Daguerreotype era (1839–1859)
were generally from France or the United States. While
the former emphasized “art, current European style and
good taste,” the latter based their marketing on “speed,
prices and technical profi ciency” (McElroy 1979a).
Philogone Daviette was the second known daguerreo-
typist in Lima (1844) and possibly the fi rst in Perú to
offer postmortems. Jacinto Pedeville (Pedevilla) arrived
in 1846 and is credited (along with Felix Salazar) with
introducing albumen prints in Peru in 1853. Early North
American daguerreotypists include J. M. Newland (also
known as Juan Newman), active in Lima and Callao
(1846) and Arequipa (1847), and Arthur Terry who
managed a Lima studio between 1848 and 1852. After
moving to Chile, Terry was in partnership with Cipriano
Clavijo who was later active in Arequipa and Trujillo
between 1860 and 1892.
The fi rst known native-born Peruvian photographer
Juan Fuentes was active in Lima beginning in 1856.
His idea to photograph convicted criminals as an in-
novative record keeping device was eventually funded
by the government. Other Peruvian-born photographers
from that era include Felix Salazar who worked in Lima
between 1854 and 1887. Salazar was in a succession
of partnerships with other photographers (Richardson,
Bouvier, Remorino, and P. E. Garreaud). Salazar also
produced views of the Arequipa Revolution of 1867 and
the great Arequipa Earthquake of 1868.
North American Benjamin Pease arrived in Peru in
1852 and bought the studio of compatriot Arthur Terry.
According to McElroy, Pease “produced the most sig-
nifi cant body of daguerrean plates and built the fi rst
of the grand [photography] salons in Lima” (1979b).
Later, Pease successfully transitioned into the cdv era.
In 1870 Pease took a series of photographs of the Mol-
lendo to Arequipa railroad line whose construction was
supervised by the noted engineer Henry Meiggs. Other
arrivals from the United States included Henry de Witt
Moulton (who had worked at the famed Gurney and
Fredricks studio in New York) and Villroy L. Richard-
son. Both men had been contracted to work at the Pease
studio. Later, they were both affi liated for a time with
the studio of Pedro Emilio Garreaud.
Villroy Richardson opened his own studio in Lima
in 1862. Richardson’s well executed cdvs were much
in demand as were his images of the Lima to La Oroya
railroad line. In the 1860s he produced photomon-
tages, placing political personalities on the bodies of
animals and later produced a series of popular political
caricatures on cdvs. When he did not heed government
warnings to cease, Richardson was arrested and released
only after his political favorite became President. Henry
Moulton’s negatives of Lima and most signifi cantly,
the Chincha islands (where fortunes in guano were
harvested), were made into prints by U.S. photographer
Alexander Gardner. The images appeared in Rays of
Sunlight in South America (c.1865).
Ricardo Castillo fi rst worked for the Richardson
studio. In the late 1890s, Castillo operated the latter’s
studio in association with Ignacio Lecca, and later man-
aged his own studio. Castillo produced carbon prints,
photographed the mining area of Cerro de Pasco and
documented portions of the destruction resulting from
the War of the Pacifi c between Peru/Bolivia and Chile
(1879–1884). Eugenio Maunoury opened his elegant
studio in 1861 and is credited with popularizing the
carte-de-visite in Peru. Manoury along with José Ne-
gretti and the major Lima studios had great success
marketing cdvs of tapadas (women posing in mantos
(shawls) and sayas (skirts) once worn by Limeñas dur-
ing the colonial period and which signifi ed fl irtation).
Maunoury’s affi liation with Nadar in Paris was noted
on his cdvs and the logo was later used by the famed
Courret studio when it acquired Manoury’s three studios
in 1865.
The Courret brothers studio established in 1863,
merits special attention due to “The quantity, quality
and duration of its production” (McElroy, 1977). Eu-
genio operated the camera while Aquiles took care of
the business details. In the 1870s, the latter left Peru and
Eugenio managed the studio until around 1892 when he
returned to France. The elegant Courret studio produced
thousands of cdvs and cabinet cards, outdoor scenes of
various cities (Lima, Callao) events (earthquake of Arica
and Arequipa, Industrial exposition of 1869); and of the
Oroya railroad line. According to McElroy, “It would be
impossible to illustrate a history of Peru in the second half
of the 19th century without including Courret portraits”
(McElroy 1977). The Courret studio was transferred to
Adolfo Dubreuil and a series of successors. Portions of
the Courret Archive have been preserved.
Photographers in the provinces were able to maintain
successful studios in various cities, especially in Areq-
uipa which for a time prospered due to a large demand
for alpaca wool. Ricardo Villalba (also spelled Villaalba)
owned a studio in Arequipa during the 1870s. He pro-
duced cdvs, remarkable photographs of the Mollendo
to Puno railroad line and views of Lake Titicaca. Felix
Renaut, active in Arequipa between 1868 and 1874,
produced cdvs and stereoviews. Miguel and Luis Alviña
whose familial relationship if any, is not known, both
worked in Arequipa in the 1860s. Luis also worked in
Cusco in the 1870s and participated in an expedition to
Paucartambo in 1873. Some of his albumen prints of
that region’s people have survived.