Frederick William Flower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frederick William Flower | |
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 | |
| Born | 22 February 1815 Leith, Scotland |
| Died | 18 July 1889 (aged 74) Porto, Portugal |
| Occupations | Wine producer and exporter |
| Known for | Photography pioneer |
Frederick William Flower (22 February 1815 – 18 July 1889) was a Scottish-Portuguese photographer. He is considered one of the pioneers of photography in Portugal. Most of his photographs from between 1849 and 1859 have been well-preserved.[1][2]
Frederick Flower was born on 22 February 1815 in Leith, Scotland, where his father had been sent to work. At an early age his parents moved back to England, living in Hull. It was from there that he sailed to Porto in 1834, where he took up a position with the Port wine exporters, Smith Woodhouse & Company. He stayed at the home of the owner of the company, Robert Woodhouse, as was customary for young Englishmen moving to Portugal to work in the wine trade. Following the death of his father, he was joined in Portugal in 1836 by his mother, brother and two younger sisters.[3]
It is not known exactly when Flower took up photography or from where he obtained the necessary expertise. He was one of the first people in Portugal to use the salted paper and calotype processes developed by Henry Fox Talbot in England from the late 1830s. He may have learned of the calotype process from Joseph James Forrester, famous for mapping the Douro river, who took up amateur photography around 1853, although information was first made available in the Revista Literária published in Porto.[4] Flower made most of his calotypes between 1853 and 1858. He was also the Portuguese pioneer of the use of strip photography.[1] Flower is likely to have obtained his photographic supplies from British suppliers and received instructions along with those supplies.[3]
Flower prepared his own photographic emulsion and was known to sometimes touch up the negatives to create an artificial cloud effect. His photographs were usually taken in Porto and in Vila Nova de Gaia on the opposite bank of the Douro, where the port companies were based. However, he also travelled widely in northern Portugal. His photographs provide an important record of aspects of everyday life in Portugal at that time.[3]
