CONSTANT

Constant was an eminent portrait painter, one of his last being Queen Victoria in the year of this letter. In return the Princess of Wales (Queen Alexandra) sketched four portraits of the artist. He was best known for his Oriental subjects and portraits.Adolphe BRAUN (1812-1877) began experimenting with a camera in 1851 and by 1857 had established a fine art publishing firm. Such was its output and commercial success that Braun et Cie. would ultimately eclipse the remarkable contribution that its founder had made to the emerging photographic scene of the mid-nineteenth century. It was only in the mid-1960s that Braun's photographs and talents as a major innovator in the medium came to be appreciated, and, in particular, the role he played in publicising the beauty of the Alps through his large-format prints.