19thC; Jones Calvert, Two men posed in a courtyard

Seven stone columns support a stone balustrading and roof.. The seventh column and its shadow provides a forefrong element. Three central columns are clustered together, at their base are two men in top hats, one is seated on a shallow step, the other stands. There is a deep tone to the shadows between the colums, fading to all edges and a finger print between two columns on the right..

During the 1830s William Henry Fox Talbot invented a way of making paper negatives and from them multiple paper prints. In doing so, he laid the foundations of modern photography. Calvert Jones learned of these developments in 1839 through a neighbour who was a cousin of Talbot. Jones lived in South Wales and he made many photographs there and in the West of England. He also travelled widely, making photographs on the continent. Jones' work stands out in the early development of photography because he was one of the first to apply a schooled artist's eye to the medium

Jones often used strong architectural forms to provuide a dramatic setting for figure studies. The strongly lit columns provide a backgrounds of contrasting vertical bands of light and dark. The group of three colums towards the left segment of the composition emphasise the fugures at their base.

PH.35-1983