Photographic historian Margaret Harker gives marvelous insight into the 1873 photograph Preparing Spring Flowers for Market:

…signed by both partners, is a composite picture constructed on similar lines to A Cottage Home, 1859, by Robinson, and his later interiors: When the Day’s Work is Done, 1877, and Dawn and Sunset, 1885. However, there are very significant differences between Preparing Spring Flowers for Market and these others. In no other photograph by Robinson are the figures turned away from each other as though the one was not aware of the relationship between them. The unnatural pose of the girl standing with her gaze fixed on the distance, although within the confines of a small cottage, is most unlike any other Robinson portrayal. The effect of such posing is to create a feeling of unease in the viewer. Another difference between this picture and the others is in the treatment of the dimension of depth. The interior of the cottage in Preparing Spring Flowers for Market appears to be shallow owing to the amount of light falling on the walls behind the two girls. In the other three a better impression of depth is given because of the lower lighting levels on the areas behind the figures. These factors lead one to suppose that Cherrill was responsible for the conception, arrangement and lighting of Preparing Spring Flowers for Market. If that is so the indications are that Cherrill was very skilled in the techniques of photography but that he lacked Robinson’s sensitivity and skill as an artist.’ -Margaret F. Harker, Henry Peach Robinson: Master of Photographic Art, 1830-1901, (Oxford: Blackwell), 1988, p. 58.

The following is a transcript of editorial content pertaining to Preparing Spring Flowers for Market published in the Philadelphia Photographer for March, 1874:

OUR PICTURE.

When in England we, of course, made a pilgrimage or two to the studio of Mr. H. P. Robinson (and his partner Mr. N. K. Cherrill), the well-known author of Pictorial Effect in Photography. We shall give our views of what we saw there presently, but meanwhile call your attention to a very important branch of photographic industry which is largely practiced by the gentlemen named, and to give you an example of their work from negatives, which they kindly made for us when we were there. We must first say that the subject is named ” Preparing Spring Flowers for Market,” and that our picture is copied from an original print, which is about 24 x 30. As a work of art the composition is nearly faultless. As an example of what taste and industry will do it is capital. How to make such work is fully described in his book by Mr. Robinson at length, but our space only allows us to make some extracts.

Combination printing, which is the branch we allude to, means, as you know, the making of prints from two or more negatives ; the various parts being printed from the different negatives combined, or successively. ” The most simple form of combination printing, and the one most easy of accomplishment and most in use by photographers, is that by which a natural sky is added to a landscape.” And this form we would recommend to any one commencing this style of work. In most landscape negatives, larger than stereoscopic, the sky is usually a blank, from the fact that the time of exposure for the landscape is necessarily so much longer than that required for the sky that flying clouds move away, leaving no impression. Now to remedy this a separate negative is made of the clouds, at any time when they are favorable for photographing, and with an almost instantaneous exposure they are secured with the most perfect detail. To print in a sky, the landscape is printed fir.^t, masking the sky, if necessary, so that it may be left white. If a mask is used care must be taken to avoid printing a sharp line. This may be done by keeping the edge of the mask separated from the negative, producing the same effect as in vignetting. After printing the landscape the cloud negative is put in the place of the other, and the sky printed by masking the landscape in the same manner as was done with the sky. A little practice will, of course, be necessary to work successfully, but when the simpler form is once mastered, then something more complicated may be attempted. Panoramic landscapes, with cloud effects, may be produced from several different negatives ; and when the methods of working have become well understood, something more difficult still may be attempted ; such a picture, for instance, as our illustration. This is a capital study; the lighting particularly may be considered in connection with our art studies on another page.

We will not attempt to dissect this picture, but leave that for the student to do in connection with the following copious extracts on combination printing, which we make from Mr. Robinson’s excellent work. He says :

” Perhaps the greatest use to which combination printing is now put is in the production of portraits with natural landscape backgrounds. Many beautiful pictures, chiefly cabinets and cards, have been done in this way by several photographers. The easiest kind of figure for a first attempt would be a three-quarter length of a lady, because you would then get rid of the foreground, and have to confine your attention to the upper part.pf the figure and the distance. Pictures of this kind have a very pleasing effect. In the figure negative, everything should be stopped out, with the exception of the figure, with black varnish ; this should be done on the back of the glass when practicable, which produces a softer join ; but for delicate parts — such as down the face — where the joins must be very close, and do not admit of anything approaching to vignetting, the varnish must be applied on the front. A much better effect than painting out the background of the figure negative is obtained by taking the figure with a white or very light screen behind it ; this plan allows sufficient, light to pass through the background to give an agreeable atmospheric tint to the distant landscape; and stopping out should only be resorted to when ‘the background is too dark, or when stains or blemishes occur, that would injure the effect. An impression must now be taken which is not to be toned or fixed. Cutout the figure, and lay it, face downwards, on the landscape negative in the position you wish it to occupy in the finished print. It may be fixed in its position by gumming the corners near the lower edge of the plate. It is now ready for printing. It is usually found most convenient to print the figure negative first. When this has been done, the print must be laid down on the landscape negative so that the figure exactly covers the place prepared for it by the cut-out mask. When printed, the picture should be carefully examined, to see if the joins may be improved or made less visible. It will be found that, in many places, the effect can be improved and the junctions made more perfect, especially where a light ‘comes against a dark —such as a distant landscape against the dark part of a dress — by tearing away the edge of the mask covering the dark, and supplying its place by touches of black varnish at the back of the negative; this, in printing, will cause the line to be less defined, and the edges to soften into each other. If the background of the figure negative has been painted out, the sky will be represented by white paper ; and as white paper skies are neither natural nor pleasing, it will be advisable to sun it down.

” If a full-length figure be desired, it will be necessary to photograph the ground with the figure, as it is almost impossible to make the shadow of a figure match the ground on which it stands in any other way. This may be done either out of doors or in the studio. The figure taken out of doors would, perhaps, to the critical eye, have the most natural effect, but this cannot always be done, neither can it be, in many respects, done so well. The light is more unmanageable out of doors, and the difficulty arising from the effect of wind on the dress is very serious. A slip of natural foreground is easily made up in the studio ; the error to be avoided is the making too much of it. The simpler a foreground is in this case, the better will be the effect.

” The composition of a group should next engage the student’s attention. In making a photograph of a large group, as many figures as possible should be obtained in each negative, and the position of the joins so contrived that they shall come in places where they will be least noticed, if seen at all. It will be found convenient to make a sketch in pencil or charcoal of the composition before the photograph is commenced. The technical working out of a large group is the same as for a single figure ; it is, therefore, not necessary to repeat the details.”

Mr. Robinson now alludes to an example in his book similar in style to our picture, and then adds what may equally as well apply to it, as follows :

“A small rough sketch was first made of the idea, irrespective of any considerations of the possibility of its being carried out. Other small sketches were then made, modifying the subject to suit the figures available as models, and the scenery accessible, without very much going out of the way to find it. From these rough sketches a more elaborate sketch of the composition, pretty much as it stands, and of the same size, was made, the arrangement being divided so that the different portions may come on 15 by 12 plates, and that the junctions may come in unimportant places, easy to join, but not easy to be detected afterwards. The separate negatives were then taken.

” At first sight, it will appear difficult to place the partly-printed pictures in the proper place on the corresponding negative. There are many ways of doing this, either of which may be chosen to suit the subject. Sometimes a needle may be run through some part of the print, the point being allowed to rest on the corresponding part of the second negative. The print will then fall in its place at that point. Some other point has then to be found at a distance from the first ; this may be done by turning up the paper to any known mark on the negative, and allowing the print to fall upon it; if the two separate points fall on the right places, all the others must be correct. Another way of joining the prints from the separate negatives is by placing a candle or lamp under the glass of the printing-frame— practically, to use a glass table — and throwing a light through the negative and paper, the join can then be seen through. But the best method is to make register marks on the negatives. This is done in the following manner. We will suppose that we wish to print a figure with a landscape background from two negatives, the foreground having been taken with the figure. At the two bottom corners of the figure negative make two marks with black varnish, thus |_I; these, of course, will print white in the picture. A proof is now taken, and the outline of the figure cut out accurately. “Where the foreground and background join, the paper may be torn across, and the edges afterwards vignetted with black varnish on the back of the negatives. This mark is now fitted in its place on the landscape negative. Another print is now taken of the figure negative, and the white corner marks cut away very accurately with a pair of scissors. The print is now carefully applied to the landscape negative, so that the mark entirely covers those parts of the print already finished. The landscape is then printed in. Before, however, it is removed from the printing-frame, if, on partial examination, the joins appear to be perfect, two lead-pencil or black varnish marks are made on the mark round the cut-out corners at the bottom of the print. After the first successful proof there is no need for any measurement or fitting to get the two parts of the picture to join perfectly ; all that is necessary is, merely to cut out the little white marks, and fit the corners to the corresponding marks on the mask ; and there is no need to look if the joins coincide at other places, because, if two points are right, it follows that all must be so. This method can be applied in a variety of ways to suit different circumstances.

” There are one or two things to consider briefly before concluding this subject.

” It is true that combination printing, allowing, as it does, much greater liberty to the photographer, and much greater facilities for representing the truth of nature, also admits, from these very facts, of a wide latitude for abuse; but the photographer must accept the conditions at his own peril. If he find that he is not sufficiently advanced in knowledge of art, and has not sufficient reverence for nature, to allow him to make use of these liberties, let him put on his fetters again, and confine himself to one plate. It is certain (and this I will put in italics, to impress it more strongly on the memory) that a -photograph produced by combination printing must be deeply studied in every particular ‘, so that no departure from the truth of nature shall be discovered by the closest scrutiny. No two things must occur in one picture that cannot happen in nature at the same time. If a sky is added to a landscape, the light must fall on the clouds and on the earth from the same source and in the same direction. This is a matter that should not be done by judgment alone, but by judgment guided by observation of nature. Effects are often seen, especially in cloud land, very puzzling to the calm reasoner when he sees them in a picture, but these are the effects that are often best worth preserving, and which should never be neglected.”

Our prints were made by Mr. William H. Rhoads, on the excellent brand of paper recently introduced by the Albion Albumenizing Company of London, for whom Wilson, Hood & Co., Philadelphia, are the agents. Mr. Rhoads speaks very highly of the excellencies of this paper, and the beauty of the prints tell even more than that.  (pp. 90-93)

Atelier information: Philadelphia photographer, William H. Rhoads (1835-1885) Rhoad’s New Photograph Gallery was located at 1800 Frankford Road, Philadephia.

Henry Peach Robinson: English photographer: 1830-1901

Nelson King Cherrill: English photographer, (also worked in New Zealand): 1845-1916

Henry Peach Robinson opened his first studio in London, and worked in Leamington Spa, before relocating to Tunbridge Wells in Kent. He hired Nelson King Cherrill as an assistant in 1868, and such was his talent that the duo soon entered a business partnership. Until it was dissolved in 1875, (after which Cherrill continued as a successful photographer in New Zealand), the partnership flourished, specialising in artistic photography and studio portraits, and receiving numerous medals for their European and American exhibits. This photograph was probably first exhibited at the Photographic Society of Great Britain, Pall Mall East, London, in 1873. Other examples located are a hand-coloured version at the Getty Museum and one at Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery. A wood-engraved reproduction of the photograph appeared in the Illustrated London News, 8 November 1873. (biography: Henry Peach Robinson, 1830-1901: Dominic Winter Auctions: 24th Nov, 2022, Lot #115: Preparing Spring Flowers for Market, 1873