HF The History of Photography 600pág

248 The collodion period
dictum that 'The means of producing pictures in our art are as good as those of producing
paintings in Raphael's time; and nothing but a deep and earnest study is
required to make our pictures rank with the works of the most famous men.' The
books which most influenced Robinson's artistic development were John Burnet's
Art Essays and Ruskin's Modern Painters.
Artists looked on photography as merely a dull means of recording uninteresting
facts, 'wilfully mistaking the instrument for the man, and always asserting that a
photograph could have no influence on the feelings and on the emotions, that it had
no soul'. Robinson sought to demonstrate the falsity of such views. His first comp]
108 position 'Fading Away' (1858), made up from several negatives, was 'calculated to
excite painful emotions' -and Robinson fully succeeded in his intention. While
Rejlander's 'Two Ways of Life' was objected to by some for 'appealing to the
passions', 'Fading Away', which represented a 'dying' girl surrounded by her grieving
mother, sister, and fiance, was criticized for its 'morbid sentiment'. The controversy
which the picture aroused had a flattering effect upon the fortunes of its
author. Prince Albert, who had a large collection of photographs, gave Robinson a
standing order for a copy of every pictorial photograph he produced.6
Thenceforward Robinson set himself the task of producing every year at least
one such picture (sometimes as many as four) with the sole object of elevating the
position of the art to which he was devoted. The result was unfortunate for photography,
since Robinson's elaborate compositions were wholly artificial, and the
praise and awards accorded to them by photographic juries, not only in England but
also on the Continent and in America-which made Robinson the most bemedalled
photographer in the world-led to a general emulation of this kind of picture-making,
from which photographic exhibitions the world over have not yet recovered.
Pl 110 'The Lady of Shalott' (1861) was a bold attempt to illustrate Tennyson's romantic
poem. This imaginative picture, made up from two negatives, is 'very Pre-Raphaelite,
very weird, and very untrue to nature', and Robinson himself condemned it in
later years : 'It was a ghastly mistake to attempt such a subject in our realistic art, and
with the exception of an "Ophelia" done in a moment of aberration, I never afterwards
went for themes beyond the limits of the life of our day. '7 Yet while this
deliberately artificial picture somehow succeeds in conveying something of the
romantic spirit of Tennyson's poem, Robinson's favourite rustic compositions,
which usually include professional models dressed up as village maidens in smocks
and sunbonnets (because genuine country people were found to be too clumsy), strive
after naturalism and fail completely.
The inspiration for 'Bringing Home the May' (1862) came from a poem by
Spenser. It was Robinson's most ambitious effort, being printed from nine different
negatives. Like a painter, Robinson built up his composition from numerous sketches,
which were afterwards combined in a full-scale drawing. He then worked out what
portions should go on each negative, and the best places for the joins. After that, he
selected the models, costumes, and accessories. The weather in May l 862 was bad and
for nine consecutive evenings a pony-cart laden with blossom was brought to the
house, but to Robinson's dismay the next morning always turned out dull. At last on
the tenth day some of the figures could be photographed and after an interval of
several more dull days the remaining sections were completed.
In spite of the high price of 20 guineas which Robinson charged for the final
exhibition print, measuring 40 in. x l 5 in., the orders were so numerous that he
decided to reproduce the picture and issue it half the size, charging only l guinea,
rather than repeat the enormous labour of fitting the nine separate prints together,