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.

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Portraiture

Prince Albert was an early adopter of portrait photography

CALDESI & MONTECCHI (ACTIVE 1857-67)

Benjamin Hall (1802-67)

Mar 1857

Salted paper print | 16.4 x 12.7 cm (image) | RCIN 2906639

Photograph of a head and shoulder length portrait of Benjamin Hall (1802-67) facing right, his face captured in profile. He wears a buttoned jacket and neck tie.

  • Creator(s)

    Caldesi & Montecchi (active 1857-67) (photographer)

    Subject(s)

    Sir Benjamin Hall (1802-67)

  • annotation: Photographed & Published by Caldesi & Co, 38 Porchester Terrace Bayswater, March, 1857 [beneath work]

  • 16.4 x 12.7 cm (image)

    28.2 x 22.9 cm (page dimensions)

  • B. Hall, March 1857 [Photographic Portraits. Vol 1/59 (1853-1857)]

  • Acquired by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

  • Object type(s)
      • visual works
        • photographs
        • albums
          • photograph albums
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