, 1891-04-29

oAN NAF ~ u EultNAV thtEKELlE lAnEAlQEr.
after the said Tynesider had done some
thing for the said John Bright which
pleased him very much That young man
was William DOwney, photographer. Ev-
cry profession has its grand Gid man. Mr..
Downey is the grand old man Of photogra-
ply. He began to practice his profession
nearly forty years ago, and during that
long period he has photographed emperors
and expresses, kings and queens, sultans,
princes Of the blood, peers of the realm,
peeresses of the realm, soldiers and states
men, men Of letters and women of letters,
queens OF beauty, private beauties and
beauties OF the boards.
Just now, when, like all the rest Of us,
Mr.. Downey looks down the long perspec-
tive of years past, he can summon to the
session Of sweet, silent thought a series of
triumphs which must be very gratifying.
Nc order glitters on the homely coat of this
famous court photographer. There are no
academies in the world Of photography, no
degrees, no honors-only honoraria, but
Mr.. Downey is well satifed to rest his fame
on the work he has done in his forty years
of active life, and he still hopes to see his
craft reckoned among the professions. The
following are notes of aconversation which
a representative had recently with Mr..
Downey in his house in Neyern square:
BROWN SHOOK SHARP.
One of his great successes was the "smil-
ing photograph" Of the queen. Mr.. Downey
say this is his chef d'oeuvre. for her mai
esty on most occasions assumes "A grave
and even solemn mien, as IL the lens was a
dangerous weapon instead of a harmless
scientific instrument, and it is, therefore,
the grave and solemn mien with which we
always endow the queen. Every lover of a
dog will be pleased to hear that it was dog
Sharp, the collie On the chair. that raised
l that smile tn the ouaanfa fara Gharn .lta
gether declined to sit still, but Johu Brown
would stand no nonsense, and, despite the
presence Of his mistress, he gave the dog a
good shaking. He won't sit, Brown"
said the queen. He won't, your majestyy
He maun obey ye and be complainant. like
the rest Of us. He maun sit" And after
another shaking Sharp sat, and the queen
laughed TO see such sport, and Mr.. Downey
made a great hit, ali because of Brown and
Sharp. The queen" continued the vet
eran, has done more to promote photog.
raphy than any one, for she has always
been a great collector of photographs,
though she does complain of their fading"
One of Mr.. Downey's treasures is a pho
tograph Of the queen and the late Empress
Augusta Of Germany, taken when the EN-
press was the guest of the queen at Frog
more. Mr.. Downey had been summoned
70 the court, and found the queens at
AHN " NJ VI
was queen of Prussia then, declined at first
to submit to the operation, but Mt length
she succumbed to the persuasion of the
queen, and the result l. the only photo
graph in existence of her majesty, our own
queen, wearing an old fashioned poke bon
net and a mantle, and the other queen
wearing much the same sort of
When the empress of Germany died many
were the demands for the photograph, but
! abe had insisted thar M nrfnfg ahnpI1 ha
sold or given away Some men might nave
interpreted this agreement literally, saw
ing their consciences with the bubble that
the empress stipulation was only made for
her lifetime. But Mr.. Downey declined
every offer, though he had one order from
Germany for a million prints, and another
from Paris for many thousands. One day
the Emperor Frederick happened to look
into the Windsor studio when Mr.. Downey
was at work there. Mr.. Downey showed
him the photograph, and ultimately al
lowed the emperor to carry away a CODY
of the photograph of his mother. And
you couldn't well refuse to give the son a
photograph of his mother, could your"
asked Mr., Downey pathetically.
Ill ON PRIMROSE A
Some men nave the greatest objection
to having their portraits taken" said Mr..
Downey. at is a species of vanity" Mr..
Disraell was one of these peculiar people,
and we owe 1t to her majesty that Mr..
Downey's well known photograph of the
famous statesman is in existence. One day
he happened to be in attendance at Bal
moral, and after much persuasion by the
queen, consented to face the lens, which
was on the lawn. Mr.. Disraeli was always
q dandy, aud on this occasion he wore a
light coat and a pair of light blue trousers,
which was not the sort OF costume thai 9
statesman should make his bow to the
world in. The negatives were not a sue
cess.
Dizzy consented to sit again next day.
The rain was coming down a little when
Dizzy stepped out into the grounds wear
ing a beautiful black velvet coat The
rain annoyed him d%readfully, for he was in
great fear about the welfare of this beauti-
full black velvet coat, and insisted upon an
umbrella being held over him. The UNI
brella was held over him, and the second
set OF negatives were failures. On the third
day he consented to try again, but for five
minutes only. In those five minutes Mr..
Downey took four successful negatives,
from which innumerable prints were taken.
From these hundreds of thousands Of prints
nave been sold, and to this day, especially
on Primrose Day, the demand is still great.
Mr.. Downey considers this the most popu-
lar photograph Of a statesman that was
ever taken. A few years ago he had an APP
plication from an academiciRn for a photo
graph from which to paint a portrait, and
after that Mr.. Downey believes that Mr..
Disraeli only sat once for his photograph.
Pail Mall Gazette.