Two military officers on horseback survey a valley from a plateau overlooking Sprimont, in Belgium. Perhaps the occasion of a military drill?

This photograph most likely dates to around 1890 or slightly before: it was included in a series of photographs awarded the King’s Medal to the artist in the Exposition Internationale de Photographie de Bruxelles in 1890. The following excerpt includes commentary on Vedette D’Artillerie au Plateau de Sprimont:

The “King’s Medal” was given to Mr. Alexandre (unanimously, the catalog says). Its exhibition is varied: a series of prints obtained by means of magnesium flash, then landscapes, genre subjects, seascapes, all more or less instantaneous, in keeping with the taste of the day, enlargements, some of which are not without reproach, but one of them, that of the “Artillery Vedettes on the Sprimont plateau” is superb (although the indication without retouching does not influence us). (1.)

Sprimont is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. -Wikipedia (2024)

Albert-Edouard Drains, known professionally as Alexandre: 1855-1925

The following historical chronology of the photographer appears courtesy of the Directory of Belgian Photographers hosted online by Fotomuseum Antwerp. (FOMU)

Life dates

Paris [F], 1855 – Nice [F], 1925  

Activity

1897 * – 1910 / Bruxelles, Place du Musée, 14

Predecessor: Alexandre [Drains] Veuve A. & Fils

Albert Edouard Drains, ° 2.3.1855; + 16.5.1925. Arrived at this address on 25.5.1897. Photograph dealer. Collotype, reproduction of paintings in the Royal Museums; in 1895/1896 and 1898, platinum prints reproducing drawings by Fernand Khnopff (see that name), retouched and signed by the latter. Renowned pictorialist: landscapes, seascapes, studies of military life, nudes, portraits of artists. Enlargements of negatives for the “Compagnie du Congo pour le commerce et l’industrie” in 1890. Gave a slide shown comprising 100 images at the “Cercle d’études photographiques et scientifiques de Bruxelles” on 17.11.1896, including his genre study “The Anatomy Lesson”.

Views of the exhibition halls at the “Exposition Internationale et Coloniale” in Brussels – Tervueren, 1897, reproduced in collotype. Also in the context of the 1897 exhibition, Alexandre made 22 short films under the auspices of the “Société Optique Belge”, founded in February 1897, making him one of the very first Belgian cinematographers. Member ABP from 15.10.1886. One of the two Belgian members of the Linked Ring, the English pictorialist group, 1893-1908, under the pseudonym “Admiral” (the other member being Hector Colard). Honorary member of the “Cercle d’Art Photographique l’Effort”, 1901-1905.

1904 – 1908 : Bruxelles, Montagne de la Cour, 79

“Photographer to Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians and of the Congo Free State. Collotype, photogravure. Reproduction of paintings in the Royal Museums” (Mertens, 1900).

1909 – 1914 : Bruxelles, Rue Coudenberg, 56<09-10>, 56 bis or 70<11-14>

Also photograph dealer at this address. Still listed in the “Almanach de Bruxelles” in 1924.

1. Translated excerpt: The King’s Medal: L’Amateur Photographe, Revue Illustrée de la Photographie dans le monde enteir, Paris, No. 19, October, 1891, p. 374