230
East which set off to initiate diplomatic and commercial
relations with Siam, China, and Japan. Burger took many
outstanding photographs in the Far East—portraits,
landscapes and of works of art. He returned to Austria in
March 1870 and was rewarded by being appointed Court
photographer. In 1872 he was the photographer to the
Austria-Hungary Arctic Expedition, and later for expedi-
tions to Asia Minor. Constantly experimenting with new
technology and refi ning his technique, Burger became
the most celebrated photographer in Austria. He died in
- (A portfolio of his 1869 Far Eastern photographs
is in the British Library: (Burger, Wilhelm), Bilder Aus
Japan, Wien: Druck V. M. Munk, 1871.)
Terry Bennett
BURKE, JOHN (1843–1900)
English, photographer
As a teenager, Burke served in India as an apothecary
assistant in the Royal Artillery. He left the army in
1861 to join William Baker, a retired sergeant who had
started a photographic studio in Peshawar. Together
they formed Baker and Burke Studio (1867–72), the
fi rst commercial studio in that region. In 1873 Baker
left the fi rm and it became J. Burke & Co. with studios
in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Lahore; it continued to
operate until 1900. Perhaps because of his military
background, Burke was able to accompany, in an quasi-
offi cial capacity, most of the British military campaigns
along the North West Frontier and Afghanistan from
the late 1860s to 1897. He was the fi rst to photograph
Kabul after it was taken by the British in October 1879.
Burke offered his photographs from the region—present
day Pakistan, Kashmir, and Afghanistan—in a series of
commercially produced albums collectively known as
the Afghan War Album. There are a number of variants
of Afghan War Album, corresponding to the Second and
Third Afghan Wars and related campaigns. The albums
and individual prints were available through Burke’s
studios and through a number of booksellers in India
and London. In addition to military subjects, Baker
and Burke, then Burke, provided views of landscapes
and archaeological sites, as well as a range of subjects
in Lahore—imperial offi ces and pageants, bazaars,
mosques, and palaces.
Kathleen HoweBURNETT, CHARLES JOHN
(1820–1907)
Born 1820 at Kenmay, Aberdeenshire, educated private-
ly and at Edinburgh University, he became an innovative
photochemical experimenter, and founder-member of
the Photographic Society of Scotland. Burnett made
the fi rst photographic prints employing light-sensitive
uranium salts, which he described to the 1855 meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science
in Glasgow, illustrated by prints and photograms in the
accompanying exhibition. The images were of uranyl
ferrocyanide or silver, depending on development.
Burnett was a prolific contributor to photographic
journals, and he showed an early application of plati-
num toning silver prints at the Edinburgh Photographic
Society exhibition in 1856–7. His uranium sensitizers
furnished gold images (a form of chrysotype) in 1857,
when he also made the fi rst prints in palladium, antedat-BURGER, WILHELM JOSEPH
Burke, John. Camp Scene Jellalabad.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© The J. Paul Getty Museum.