30
photograph allowed him to assess the composition’s
tonal balance. However, in 1866, the limited spectral
sensitivity of Dupont’s wet collodion plates produced a
signifi cant tonal distortion which we now know would
seriously compromise the results. However, he is reputed
to have carried out further work on canvases to improve
whatever shortcomings he believed the photographs
revealed. Undeterred, he is believed to have used this
technique throughout his life.
A copy by Dupont of Alma-Tadema’s painting The
Sculpture Gallery, signed by the artist himself, survives as
evidence of their experiments. Whether or not such pho-
tographs were offered for sale is unclear, but highly likely.
John Hannavy
ALOPHE, MENUT ALEXANDER
(1812–1883)
French photographer, lithographer, and painter
A Parisian and student of both Camille Roqueplan and
Paul Delaroche, Alophe epitomizes the mediocre painter
turned commercial lithographer and photographer. From
1838 to 1879, he regularly exhibited paintings at the
Salon (second class medal in 1847). A prolifi c lithog-
rapher, he created portraits and sentimental subjects for
such publishers as Aubert, and Goupil or for magazines
(L’Artiste).
Alophe took an interest in photography in 1856,
eliciting lessons from Nadar and renting an apartment
at 35, boulevard des Capucines, where Gustave Le Gray
was already installed. Upon Le Gray’s bankruptcy in
1860, Alophe occupied his studio (Nadar arrived in the
building that same year). Alophe remained there until
1873, producing portraits and genre scenes in the same
vein as his graphic work. He also copied some of Le
Gray’s portraits and sold them as cartes de visite. He
moved to 25, rue Royale in 1874.
Alophe exhibited at the Société Française de Pho-
tographie (1859, 1861, 1863). Ernest Lacan found his
portraits “remarkable” but lacking in “natural” qualities
and with too much retouching: “We are not at the Salon”
he wrote (Moniteur de la photographie, June 15, 1861:
49). Alophe published a treatise, Le passé, le présent
et l’avenir de la photographie, wherein he advocates
photography as high art.
Pierre-Lin Renié
ALTOBELLI, GIOACCHINO (1814–1879)
AND MOLINS, POMPEO (1827–c. 1893)
Studio owners, Italy
Altobelli (born Terni) and Molins (born Rome), origi-
nally portrait and historical scene painters, like many
others, turned to photographing the tourists sites where
‘new’ money could be made. They shared a studio in
Rome, 1860–1865, producing Vedute di Roma pho-
tographs, with their characteristic posed fi gures, very
unusual at the time, and signed ‘Altobelli e Molins.’
They were also employed as photographers by the
French Academy in Rome and by Opere d’arte per la
ferrovie Romane. The partnership ceased in 1865 and
Altobelli, one of the most important of the early Roman
photographers, until 1875 ran Enrico Verzaschi’s studio
on the Via del Corso. Verzaschi was famous for his
satirical anti-clerical and anti-royalist photo-montages.
Altobelli continued to photograph on his own account.
In 1870 he posed soldiers outside the Porta Pia gate to
commemorate the breach of the Roman walls in the
revolution on 20 September 1870 which marked the
end of the Pope Pius IX’s rule, in 1878 he documented
his funeral. He became also known for his stunning
‘Night Views’—a product of the darkroom and the
retoucher, for example, ‘The Roman Forum by night,’
c. 1866, was obviously made for the tourists who had
read their Goethe. Molins was commissioned along with
others by the British publisher and archaeologist John
Henry Parker (1806–1884), founder of the British and
American Archaeological Society of Rome, 1865, on
his mammoth project which resulted in A Catalogue
of Three Thousand Three Hundred Photographs of
Antiquities in Rome and Italy (1879). Molins acquired
most of Parker’s negatives on his death but in 1893 his
studio burned down and all were lost.
Alistair CrawfordAMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER
The fi rst issue of the weekly magazine Amateur Photog-
rapher appeared Oct. 10, 1884. The title speaks to the
growing ranks of individuals who took up photography
as a hobby or pastime in the 1880s. Smaller cameras,
ready-to-use manufactured dry plates, and prepared
paper had simplifi ed photography to a point where
increasing numbers of men and women could purchase
the equipment necessary to make quality photographs
with little scientifi c background and minimal instruction.
Photography was seen as a challenging and positive pur-
suit, and there were many who actively photographed,
took part in the numerous local and national societies,
aspired to exhibit their photographs, and looked for
ways to continue to learn about the medium. Amateur
Photographer was tailor-made for these enthusiasts.
The magazine was pitched to the educated middle class,
those with the leisure time and money to photograph.
In January 1885 the editors wrote,It has been our aim from the fi rst to give to Amateur
Photographer no mere trade organ, but a journal of