Views of Portuguese stereographers / publishers

Professional Portuguese stereographers were active since the early years of stereoscopy in the 1850's, and important series covering (at least) Lisbon were produced before 1860. Most of the names listed below refer to professional photographers who also practiced stereoscopy, but many amateur photographers were also attracted by this art, and some of them produced images of excellent quality. Professional stereoviews of Portugal were produced regularly and in reasonable quantities from the 1860's to the 1890's, but its number declines abruptly around 1900. Manuel Goulart seems to have been our last important stereographer and publisher, and he is certainly among the restricted group of professionals that are worth mentioning in relation to Portugal (his list of views reaches approximately 600 titles). It is relatively easy to understand why, since he lived in New Bedford, Massachussets, and published his large series of views in the late 1890's, when stereoviews were sold by the millions in the U.S. For this reason, Goulart deviates from the stereotype of his Portuguese colleagues.
After 1900 only a very few publishers were identified: apart from the Archivo Panoramico e Artistico, only Aurélio da Paz dos Reis and Emílio Biel seem to have produced stereoviews for commercial purposes. However, Paz dos Reis initially considered himself an amateur (although he removed that reference from later card mounts, and also sold views and equipment), and Emílio Biel is almost unknown as a stereographer. A few other photographers may also have published stereoviews for commercial purposes, such as Francisco Borges and Victorino Mello. On the other hand, it is interesting to notice that there were still some amateur stereographers that used card mounts of professional quality, such as Daniel Bento and Justino de Carvalho. Justino de Carvalho is a particularly relevant name in this context, not only by the number of images that survived to this day, but also because his images provide an almost intimate window into the daily life of Oporto and its surroundings in the early years of the 20th century.

The stereographers listed under this category are the following:

 

A. J. Raposo (info, views, album) A. P. Artistico (info, views, album) A. P. dos Reis (info, views, album) D. A. Bento (info, views, album) E. Biel (info, views, album) F. Mesquita / J. Alexandre (info, views, album) F. Borges (info, views, album) F. Rocchini (info, views, album) J. de Carvalho (info, views, album)

J. Silveira (info, views, album) J. Camacho (info, views, album) L. A. Marrão (info, views, album) L. P. S. Correa (info, views, album) M. Goulart (info, views, album) M. J. S. Ferreira (info, views, album) Pinto e Ferreira (info, views, album) V. G. Silva (info, views, album) Victorino Mello (info, views, album)

ANTIQUE STEREOVIEWS OF PORTUGAL
Copyright © 2003 J. M. Martins Ferreira. All Rights Reserved.