This website presents our knowledge and research on this important aspect of the Royal Collection. As of April 2026 it will not be regularly updated and new research on this topic will sit within the main website.

Photographs 1842-61

Albums compiled by Prince Albert, reflecting his beliefs surrounding photography

WILLIAM MORRIS GRUNDY (1806-59)

Reclining Smoker

c.1857

Albumen print | 17.0 x 20.2 cm (image) | RCIN 2906231

Photograph of a full length portrait of a male figure reclining on an animal pelt with his right hand supporting his head. He wears a head covering and holds a long cane in his left hand. In the foreground lies a reed mat near the man's feet and in the background is an open tent made from rushes or reeds.

Another copy of this photograph is reproduced in G Baldwin, 'Roger Fenton - Pasha and Bayadere' (1996), p.64, where it is dated c1858 and identified as a salt print, in the collection of the International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY.
  • Creator(s)

    William Morris Grundy (1806-59) (photographer)

  • 17.0 x 20.2 cm (image)

  • Study - Arab [Reclining Smoker]

  • From an album of photographs collected and arranged by Prince Albert

  • Subject(s)
    • Social sciences
      • Ethnology
        • Costume & National dress
          • Costume-Asia
            • Costume-Middle East
              • Arab costume
    • Arts, Recreation, Entertainment & Sport
      • Decorative techniques & surface decoration
        • Reeded
    • Natural Sciences & Mathematics
      • Botany
        • Systematic botany
          • Grasses
            • Reeds
      • Biological sciences
        • Anthropology, Nationality & People
          • Arabs
    • Science, Medicine and Technology
      • Industries, Crafts and Trades
        • Travel Goods
          • Tents
    Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs