Prendergast family photograph album, late 1860s-1870s
- Title(s):
- Prendergast family photograph album.
- Published/Created:
- England, late 1860s-1870s.
- Physical Description:
- 1 album (48 photographs) : albumen prints ; volume 31 x 27 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsCS439 .P46+ OversizeYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon FundView by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Copyright Status:
- Copyright Information
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/14033975
- Classification:
- Photographs
- Notes:
- Eliza Emma Prendergast (1795-1833) was the daughter of John Grieve, physician to the Emperor Alexander of Russia. On 2 July 1822, she married Guy Lenox Prendergrast (1773-1845), with whom she had one son and two daughters. Guy's ancestors were feudal lords at Clonmel, near Newcastle, county Tipperary. Guy served in the East India Company from 1793 to 1826, reaching appointment to the governing council of Bombay. With his first wife Dorothy Christian (née Lushington, ca. 1778-1821), Guy had four sons and three daughters; some members of this portion of the family are also depicted in the present album. Guy served in Parliament (for Lymington) in 1826 and 1827. See also: The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1820-1832, ed. D.R. Fisher (2009); and Foster, J. The royal lineage of our noble and gentle families (1884).
Bound in black morocco, with gilt frames and fillets. The front cover bears a brass monogram 'E' or 'EC', apparently replacing an earlier monogram (traces of which remain).
The album includes 48 albumen prints, trimmed to various sizes and applied to the leaves within elaborately hand-decorated borders. The border illustrations include geometric patterns, flowers, birds, butterflies and insects (sometimes fanciful). Many of the sitters of the photographs are identified in graphite in a later hand. The album was probably compiled by, or at the behest of, Eliza Emma Prendergast, possibly with the aid of a daughter or sister, as the decoration appears to be in two different hands. Emma's image appears first in the album; she is depicted in mourning clothes. Her portrait is followed soon after by one of her nephew, Harris Prendergast, barrister and QC (1805-1878) and numerous other descendants and relations, interspersed with photographic copies of Victorian paintings and prints.
Depicted family members include: Eliza Emma Prendergast; the family of Emma Maria Prendergast and Alexander-Clendinning Lambert; Harris Prendergast, QC; descendants of Eliza Emma and Guy Lenox Prendergast in the Burdett, Davidson, Houston, and Hamilton families; "Capt. & Mrs. Houston (née Burdett) of Clerkington"; and "the Clements of Killadoon."
Some of the border decorations are incomplete. The content is interspersed with a number of blank leaves. - Subject Terms:
- Birds.Burdett family.Butterflies.Davidson family.Flowers.Hamilton family.Houston family.Insects.Lambert family.Lambert, Alexander-Clendinning, 1805-1892.Lambert, Emma Maria, 1824-1916.Pendergrass family.Prendergast, Eliza Emma, 1795-1883.Prendergast, Guy Lennox, 1773-1845.Prendergast, Harris, 1805-1878.Women in natural history.
- Form/Genre:
- Portraits.
Photographs.
Albumen prints.
Photograph albums.
Watercolors (paintings)
Ink drawings. - Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON