Calvert Richard Jones. Giffords Hall, Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk. Calotype, ca.1845-8.

A sweeping drive leads to a decorative brick gatehouse with octangular, castellated towers. A man, wearing a top hat and white trousers stands on the grass in front of the gatehouse. The white blur on the grass at the side of the figure may be a dog.
There is fading to the left and lower edge.

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 photographed the houses of friends, sometimes creating a house portrait with the owners, and often himself and his family, in the foreground. In this photograph, Jones has placed himself and his white Pomeranian dog on the lawn in front of the building. The white of his trousers and his dog in the shaded area serves to emphasize the central focus of this composition.

The house dates from the late 15th century. At the time of the photograph, it was the home of Frances Gresely and his family. Major Francis Gresley, an officer in the East India Company, retired in 1844 and returned to England. In 1848, he married Mary Kendall, widow of Francis Russell Kendall, who had died in Venice in 1847 (Jones was in Italy during the same period). Francis and Mary Gresley took up residence at Giffords Hall with three children from Mary's first marriage and one from his own. Later, Gresely also took up photography.

PH.91-1983