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made some of his best known work: The carte-de-visite
of negro slaves. These were sold as a souvenir mainly
to the visiting or returning Europeans. These were a
complement of a successful business as a portrait pho-
tographer. His next step led him to establish his business
in Mercedes, Uruguay, and in 1867 in Buenos Aires. At
that time he managed studios in three South American
countries. In his Buenos Aires studio in Florida Street
of Buenos Aires he photographed landowners, politi-
cians, diplomats, the core of the Argentinean society,
including the presidents: Pelegrini; Mitre, Sarmiento.
In the 1870s he established a studio run by his son, José
Virginio Freitas Henriques for photographing children,
a diffi cult task in the wet collodium time. He earned a
gold medal in the Cordoba National exhibition in 1871.
In Argentina, as in Brazil he completed his successful
JÚNIOR, CHRISTIANO
portrait work with photographs of the growing city of
Buenos Aires, the local costumes and other Argentinean
cities. His children’s studio was destroyed by a fi re in- He sold his studio to Witcomb in 1878, and a year
latter started touring Argentina publishing photographic
albums of Argentinean provinces. He retired from his
photographic activity in 1883. He died in Asunción
Paraguay in 1902.
Nuno de Avelar Pinheiro
Exhibitions
Buenos Aires, 2002, Fundación Antorchas.
A Colecção do Imperador, Fotografia Brasileira e
Estrangeira do Século XIX, Museu Nacional de
Belas. Artes, 1997, Arquivo Fotográfi co da Câmara
Municipal de Lisboa.