Country House by Calvert Richard Jones (British, 1804-1877); salted paper print from calotype negative; Britain; 1840s

A myriad of towers, pinnacles, neo-tudor brick chimneys and an octagonal central tower rise from the castellated frontage this Tudor-Gothic mansion. The foreground is dominated by a hedge which runs across the image, behind which is a wall of a garden terrace. There is a seated man on the left side of the wall and a second man in front of the adjoining stables.
There is fading to the right side and left bottom corner of the print.

Educated at Oxford and a mathematician, musician, painter and parson, Calvert Richard Jones was introduced to photography by Christopher (Kit) Rice Mansel Talbot a cousin of William Henry Fox Talbot, British inventor of the negative/positve process. Subsequently, Jones became one of the few Britons to produce a substancial body of calotypes in Britain and abroad. His work stands out in the early development of photography because of his ability to fuse his technical skill with his training as a watercolourist.

Jones was a close friend and neighbour of Kit Talbot, the owner of the recently built Margam Castle. Talbot, a wealthy landowner and industrialist may have commissioned the series of house portraits: prior to inheriting property of his own, Jones has been described as one of Talbot's 'satelites'. Jones had already photographed Margam Castle in March 1941, using the daguerreotype process. This image shows the south front, one of two terraced garden fronts.

Margam Castle was built between 1830 and 1839, though work was not completed on parts of the house and outbuildings and terraces until 1844. It was built by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot and it replaced a former mansion demolished by his father at the end of the 18th century. Talbot influenced the design, in particular he incorporated heraldic shields and carved faces.

PH.69-1983