Background
James Robertson was born in 1813 in the United Kingdom.
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(Group of soldiers outside a hut)
Group of soldiers outside a hut
1855
1855
1855
(Colonel W.L.Yea with his horse receives a signal from his...)
Colonel W.L.Yea with his horse receives a signal from his adjutant, Lt.J.St Clair Hobson. Both killed at Sevastopol 18 June 1855
1855
(Scottish troops, wearing bearskin and kilts)
Scottish troops, wearing bearskin and kilts
1855
1857
1857
1858
engraver Photographer watercolourist
James Robertson was born in 1813 in the United Kingdom.
James Robertson trained as an engraver under Wyon. In 1841, he settled in Constantinople (now Istanbul) where he worked as an "engraver and die-stamper" at the Imperial Ottoman Mint. During this period, he appears to have become interested in photography.
In 1853 James Robertson began photographing with the British-Italian photographer Felice Beato and the two formed a partnership called Robertson & Beato. Robertson and Beato were joined by Beato's brother, Antonio on photographic expeditions to Malta in 1854 or 1856 and to Greece and Jerusalem in 1857. A number of the firm's photographs produced in the 1850s are signed by Robertson, Beato, and Co. and it is believed that "and Co." refers to Antonio.
In 1855 James Robertson along with Felice Beato, Charles Langlois and Karl Baptiste van Szatmari travelled to Balaklava, Crimea where they photographed the closing stages of the Crimean War. They photographed the fall of Sevastopol in September 1855. Of all the photographs produced, at least 60 made by Robertson are the best known. It was Robertson's work in Crimea that would earn him the reputation as the world's "first war photographer."
In around 1857 both James Robertson and Felice Beato went to Calcutta in India to photograph the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion. He also produced photographs in Palestine, Syria, Malta, and Cairo with either or both of the Beato brothers.
In the late 1850s, James Robertson produced a number of water-colours with popular Orientalist themes such as carpet-sellers and snake charmers. It is unclear whether he painted these, or overpainted photographs with a soft, water-color wash.
In 1860, after Felice Beato left for China to photograph the Second Opium War and Antonio Beato went to Egypt, James Robertson briefly teamed up with Charles Shepherd back in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). The firm of Robertson & Beato was dissolved in 1867, having produced images - including remarkable multiple-print panoramas - of Malta, Greece, Turkey, Damascus, Jerusalem, Egypt, the Crimea, and India.
James Robertson possibly gave up photography in the 1860s; he returned to work as an engraver at the Imperial Ottoman Mint until his retirement in 1881. In that year he left for Yokohama, Japan, arriving in January 1882. James Robertson died there in April 1888.
Crimean War
(Scottish troops, wearing bearskin and kilts)
1855Crimean War
(Group of soldiers outside a hut)
1855Crimean War
(Colonel W.L.Yea with his horse receives a signal from his...)
1855Army camp at Balaklava during the Crimean War
1855Süleymaniye Mosque in Constantinople
1853Erechtheum Acropolis
1853Obelisk in the Hippodrome, Constantinople
1854The Garden of Gethsemane
1857Fatih Mosque
Mehmed Emin Ağa Fountain
Nusretiye Mosque and Tophane Square
Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount and Wailing Wall
1857British Sailor's Battery
1855Malakoff from the Mamelon
1855Interior of the Redan - Russian Battery
1855Imperial Port of Serail
1854Tomb of Sultan az-Zahir Qansuh
1858Dolmabahçe Palace Imperial Gate
Dolmabahçe Palace and Mosque
Quotes from others about the person
Robertson and Beato's photographs of the aftermath of the siege of Lucknow in 1858, "are among the most terrifying documents of the ravages of war," according to Beaumont Newhall.
In late 1854 or early 1855, James Robertson married the Beato brothers' sister, Leonilda Maria Matilda Beato. The couple had three daughters, Catherine Grace (born in 1856), Edith Marcon Vergence (born in 1859), and Helen Beatrice (born in 1861).
(b. 1856)
(b. 1859)
(b. 1861)
In 1853 James Robertson began photographing with British photographer Felice Beato and the two formed a partnership called Robertson & Beato either in that year or in 1854 when Robertson opened a photographic studio in Pera, Constantinople (now Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey).
James Robertson trained as an engraver under Wyon (probably William Wyon).
