Carol Szathmari

File:Szathmari, Carol - Trachtengruppe in Campulung (1) (Zeno Fotografie).jpg), 1866]]

Szathmari was born in the city of Kolozsvár, Transylvania (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania), in 1812.{{cite journal |last1=Papp |first1=Júlia |title=Artwork Photography in Hungary: The Early Years (1859–1885) |journal=Visual Resources |date=15 September 2009 |volume=25, 2009 |issue=3 |pages=193–238 |doi=10.1080/01973760903122364 |s2cid=192020954 }}{{cite book|author=John Hannavy|title=Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVFdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1370|date=16 December 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-135-87326-4|pages=1370–}}{{cite book |last1=Savulescu |first1=Constantin |title=Cronologia ilustrată a fotografiei din România: perioada 1834–1916 |date=1895 |publisher=Asociaţia Artiştilor Fotografi |pages=19–20}} Initially, he studied law at the Reformed College in Cluj.{{Cite web | url=http://www.eshph.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/2008_Jubilee_lowres.pdf | title=Jubilee – 30 Years ESHPh - Congress of Photography in Vienna | website=www.eshph.org | publisher=European Society for the History of Photography}} By the age of eighteen he had moved to Bucharest. He studied painting from 1832 to 1834 in Rome,{{cite book|author1=Etnografski muzej u Beogradu|author2=Károly Szathmári Pap|author3=Mitar S. Vlahović|author4=Bosiljka Radović|title=Popular Costumes of the XIXth Century in Beograd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t9TfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP11|year=1958|publisher=The Museum|pages=11–}} and on returning to Bucharest he was frequently commissioned to create paintings for the Wallachian boyars. He would later go on to achieve notoriety as the official artist of the Romanian royal court. He spent most of his life in Bucharest, where he died in 1887.

File:Szathmari - Bateria Mortierelor la Calafat.jpg Mortar Battery), circa 1877]]

In 1848 Szathmari took his first photograph, using the talbotype process, of a cupid statue that had two broken arms.{{cite journal |last1=Cojocariu |first1=Gheorghe |title=Carol Popp de Szathmary, The First War Photo Reporter, a Pioneer of Photojournalism |journal=Economics, Management, and Financial Markets |date=2011 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=907–915}} By 1850 he had mastered enough of the photographic process to open a commercial photographic studio in Bucharest.

Among his clients for portraits at his Bucharest studio were high-level Russian and Turkish military officers.{{cite book|author=Lawrence James|title=Crimea 1854-56: the war with Russia from contemporary photographs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_uRoAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Hayes Kennedy|isbn=978-0-86269-001-4}} These connections allowed him access to the military camps of both sides at Wallachia, of the battle that would become known as the Crimean War. In 1853, using a wagon specially equipped with a dark room for processing glass plates with wet collodion, he went to the Danube river's banks and various other places,{{cite book|author=Martin W. Sandler|title=SANDLER:PHOTOGRAPHY: ILLUS HIST RLB|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lObXm5buqocC&pg=PA105|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-512608-2|pages=105–}}{{cite book|author=Călin Hentea|title=Brief Romanian Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lwcWDFZWuJgC&pg=PA10|year=2007|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5820-6|pages=10–}}{{cite web|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/2500625/turkish-infantry|title=Carol Szathmari (1812-87) - Turkish infantry|website=www.rct.uk}} landscapes, fortifications and battlefields,{{cite book|title=Revista Bibliotecii Naționale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U9PjAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Biblioteca Națională a României}} where he photographed various troops, both Turkish and Russian, their equipment and their commanding officers.

Szathmari exhibited his photos, bound in an album, at the Exposition Universelle of 1855.{{cite book|author1=Paul Kerr|author2=Georgina Pye|title=The Crimean War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfgiAQAAIAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Boxtree|isbn=978-0-7522-1112-1}} For his work presented at the exhibition, he received the second class medal.

In July of the same year, he presented copies of his work to Queen Victoria during a private meeting at Osborne Castle, Isle of Wight, and she awarded him a gold medal in recognition of his work.

He also met privately in 1855 with Emperor Napoleon III, with an article in Lumière, the French Photographic Society publication describing the meeting:

"M. de Szathmari, the skilled photographer from Bucharest, whose arrival we already announced, had the honour to be received by the Emperor on Wednesday evening. His Majesty wanted to see all the pictures bound in his magnificent album; he was quite interested by the Russian and Turkish generals’ portraits. As an eye-witness of so many events connected with the Oriental War, and being on close terms with most of those who distinguished themselves in that great fight, Mr. de Szathmari was able to give interesting details to His Majesty. While accepting his homage, the Emperor congratulated the author of this interesting collection."

The same year, he presented two 95 page albums of his photographs to Franz Josef I.{{cite book|author1=Mitchel P. Roth|author2=James Stuart Olson|title=Historical Dictionary of War Journalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Og8-5_oqumYC&pg=PA310|year=1997|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-29171-5|pages=310–}}

In February 1860, he was commissioned to produce a lithograph of a map of Wallachia, based on the first detailed geographic survey of the area that had been done by Austrians during the Crimean war.{{cite journal |last1=Bartos‐Elekes |first1=Zsombor |last2=Timár |first2=Gábor |last3=Imecs |first3=Zoltan |last4=Magyari‐Sáska |first4=Zsolt |title=Georeferencing the topographic map of Walachia (1855–1864) |journal=8th International Workshop on Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage |date=19 September 2013}}

In 1863, Szathmari was given the title of Ruling Prince’s Court Painter and Photographer by the Romanian ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza and of the first King of Romania, Carol I.{{cite book|author=Adrian-Silvan Ionescu|title=Panel și sabie: artiști, documentariști și corespondenți de front în războiul de independență, 1877-1878|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9u6gAAAAMAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Editura Biblioteca Bucureștilor|isbn=978-973-8369-02-3}}{{cite book|author=Muzeul Național de Artă (Romania)|title=Napoléon III et les principautés roumaines: Musée d'art national de Roumanie, Bucarest, 24 octobre 2008-1er février 2009; Musée national du château de Compiègne, 21 mars-29 juin 2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRE-IrHYqQsC|year=2008|publisher=Musée national du château de Compiègne|isbn=978-2-7118-5580-3}}

In 2012, the Cotroceni National Museum in Bucharest staged a retrospective exhibition of 400 of his paintings and photographs, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth.{{cite web|url=https://www.agerpres.ro/english/2012/05/11/-carol-popp-de-szathmari-painter-and-photographer-exhibition-opened-at-cotroceni-national-museum-10-15-19|title="Carol Popp de Szathmari - painter and photographer" Exhibition, opened at Cotroceni National Museum|website=www.agerpres.ro|access-date=2019-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329003341/https://www1.agerpres.ro/english/2012/05/11/-carol-popp-de-szathmari-painter-and-photographer-exhibition-opened-at-cotroceni-national-museum-10-15-19|archive-date=2019-03-29|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cotidianul.ro/un-indragostit-de-lumea-romaneasca/|title=Un îndrăgostit de lumea românească|first=Victoria|last=Anghelescu|date=10 June 2012}}

Three of Szathmari's photographs are included in the collection of the International Museum of Photography and Film at George Eastman House, in Rochester, New York: "The Russian lancer's encampment in Craiova", "The Bombardment of Silistra" and the portrait of Lt. General {{ill|Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov (1800–1854)|ru|Соймонов, Фёдор Иванович (1800)|lt=F. I. Soymonov}}, commander of the 104th Russian Division, killed at the Battle of Inkerman.{{cite web|url=https://collections.eastman.org/people/58790/carol-popp-de-szathmari/objects|title=Works - Carol Popp de Szathmari - People - George Eastman Museum|website=collections.eastman.org}}

The Royal Collection in London, England holds an album of photographs that Szathmari personally presented to Queen Victoria around 1855.

The National Library of Romania holds many of Szathmari's photographs, including his commercial portraiture work, under a collection titled Carol Pop de Szathmari photographs.{{cite web|url=http://www.theeuropeanlibrary.org/tel4/collection/a1454|title=Carol Pop de Szathmari photographs - The European Library|website=www.theeuropeanlibrary.org}}

Also, Szathmari's work can be found in the collection of Milan Jovanović Stojimirović who bequeathed his vast collection of paintings and artifacts to the Art Department of the Museum in Smederevo.{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/13233471|title = The Legacy of Milan Jovanovic Stojimirovic in the Art Department of the Museum in Smederevo}}

File:Carol Popp de Szathmary - Soldati francezi in bivuac.jpg|French soldiers in bivouac, 1854 painted during the Crimean War

File:Carol Popp de Szathmary - Alexandru Ioan Cuza1.jpg|Alexandru Ioan Cuza

File:Szathmari - Carol I - 1.jpg|Carol I of Romania

File:Carol Popp de Szathmáry - Mihail Kogălniceanu.jpg|Mihail Kogălniceanu

File:Carol Popp de Szathmáry - I. C. Brătianu, portret aşezat.jpg|I.C. Brătianu

File:Carol Popp de Szathmary - Nicolae Grigorescu.jpg|Nicolae Grigorescu

File:Carol Popp de Szathmary - Gheorghe Tattarescu.jpg|Gheorghe Tattarescu

File:Carol Popp de Szathmáry - Ştefan Golescu.jpg|Ștefan Golescu

File:Carol Popp de Szathmáry - Matei Millo în costumaţie de teatru, din piesa Paracliserul.jpg|Matei Millo

File:Carol Popp de Szathmáry - Petrache Poenaru, portret aşezat.jpg|Petrache Poenaru

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Carol Popp de Szathmary}}

• {{cite web |url=http://www.mnir.ro/publicat/anuar/10/ionescu.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |title=Photographs from the Crimean War by Carol Szathmari I American and British Collections|first= Adrian Silvan|last= Ionescu|publisher=Muzeul Național|year=1998 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716064447/http://www.mnir.ro/publicat/anuar/10/ionescu.html }}
• {{cite web|title=Bulgarian samples of work of Carol Szathmary|url=http://www.lostbulgaria.com/?cat=261|website= lostbulgaria.com}}

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Category:1812 births

Category:1887 deaths

Category:19th-century journalists

Category:19th-century Hungarian male writers

Category:19th-century Romanian photographers

Category:Artists from Cluj-Napoca

Category:Hungarian photographers

Category:Male journalists

Category:Immigrants to the Principality of Wallachia

Category:Artists from the Austrian Empire

Category:Artists from the Principality of Wallachia

Category:19th-century Romanian painters

Category:War photographers

Category:19th-century people from the Principality of Wallachia