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chose to study and practice law, and to engage with the
emerging profession of photography. After undertaking
some initial tuition in painting in both London and Paris,
he qualifi ed as a lawyer and took up the new art of pho-
tography, initially as a hobby. Photography became his
abiding passion for many years, during which time he
emerged not only as one of the pre-eminent professional
photographers of his day, but also as a major driving
force and guiding hand in the foundation of organised
photography in the United Kingdom.
The impact of Fenton’s involvement with early Brit-
ish photography was considerable and enduring—both
from the point of view of his skill and vision as an image
maker, and his involvement in the establishment of The
Photographic Society of London, and its publication The
Photographic Journal. Driven by his enthusiasm for
discussion and debate, and the exchange of information
between practitioners, he helped establish the model of
photographic fellowship that endures to this day.
An interest in art remained with Fenton throughout
his life, and infl uenced his approach to photography and
photographic composition. In the years before he turned
his attention entirely to photography, his friendships
with Charles Lucy and Ford Madox Brown were clearly
signifi cant factors in the type of paintings he exhibited.
In each of the three years 1849, 1850 and 1851 he had a
painting exhibited at the Royal Academy, but after 1852,
he appears only to have exhibited photography.
With Lucy and others, he was instrumental in the
establishment of the North London School of Draw-
ing and Modelling in 1850, and helped secure for that
school the patronage of the Prince Consort, Prince
Albert. Albert’s acquaintance with Fenton and his work
later developed into an enduring interest in the work of
the Photographic Society of London, and led to Fenton
taking on the role of instructor to the Prince in the rudi-
ments of photography.
It is not certain when Roger Fenton’s interest in
photography fi rst began, although it is likely that its
genesis may be traced to his time in Paris in the mid
1840s. His earliest dated images, taken using a modi-
fi cation of Gustave le Gray’s Waxed Paper Process,
were produced in 1852, and thirty-nine of them were
exhibited at London’s fi rst photographic exhibition
organised at the Society of Arts in December of that
year. These included three images from his recent trip to
Russia, views taken around his home in Albert Terrace,
London, at various locations in Gloucestershire, and of
his birthplace—Crimble Hall in Lancashire.
Circumstantial evidence supports the long-standing
opinion that Fenton was a founding member of the
Photographic Club (often referred to as the Calotype
Club) in 1847, but his name is notably absent from
early references to this group. However, membership
included Peter Wickens Fry, Peter le Neve Foster, Fre-
derick Scott Archer, Joseph Cundall, Hugh Owen, Dr
Hugh Diamond, Edward Kater, Robert Hunt, Charles
Vignoles, F. W. Berger and Sir William Newton, many
of whom became Fenton’s lifelong friends.
No surviving images have yet been traced to support
Fenton’s practical involvement with the calotype proc-
ess. Despite this, the evidence for including him in theFENTON, ROGER
Fenton, Roger. Still Life with Fruit.
The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Gilman Collection, Gift of
The Howard Gilman Foundation,
2005 (2005.100.15) Image © The
Metropolitan Musem of Art.