Robertson, James

James Robertson is one of the first British military photographers , as well as an engraver on coins and stones, usually semi-precious .

Acropolis of Athens . Silver Albumin Seal , Robertson and Beato, 1853.

Military camp in Balaclava before the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War . Silver Albumin Seal , Robertson and Beato, 1855.

James Robertson was born in Middlesex in 1813. He studied with William Wyon the art of engraving. In 1843, he worked as an engraver in an imperial Ottoman mint.

In 1850, James Robertson met Felix Beato in Malta , and in 1851 they traveled to Constantinople together. In 1853, Robertson and Beato become partners and begin to photograph together, in the same year or in 1854, they open their own company and call it “Robertson and Beato”, their photo studio opens in Constantinople. In 1854, he and his brother Antonio Beato went to Malta , in 1856 to Greece and in 1857 to Jerusalem . A number of photographs were signed by Robertson, Beato, and Co., where, apparently, Antonio is meant by Co.

At the end of 1854 or at the beginning of 1855, James Robertson married the sister of the Beato brothers - Leonid Maria Matilda Beato. They had 3 daughters: Katerina Grace (b. 1856), Edith Marcon Vergens (b. 1859) and Helen Beatruk (b. 1861). ^[one]

In 1855, Felix Beato and James Robertson went to the Crimea to Balaclava .

In 1860, Felix Beato left Robertson and Beato, although Robertson continued to use the name until 1867. In 1860, James Robertson worked for a while with Charles Shepherd in Constantinople . It is possible that James Robertson ceased to be covered in photography in the 1860s . He again began to work as an engraver in the Ottoman Mint until 1881, when he left for Yokohama . He died in 1888 in Yokohama .