1811.a.19

Imprint: London: published by the Arundel Society for Promoting the Knowledge of Art, 24, Old Bond Street: and Bell and Daldy, York Street, Covent Garden. 1868.

Folio, cloth and marbled paper boards, measuring 470 x 373 mm; [4], 4 pp historical introduction, followed by 20 albumen prints mounted on card, one to a page (recto only), with letterpress caption labels pasted beneath each image.A note at the beginning of the volume records a minute of the Board of the Privy Council on Education, dated 10 March 1866: 'My Lords read the list of the various works of art extant in the kingdom of Portugal recommended by Mr. Robinson as desirable for reproduction for the South Kensington Museum. Also, the list of works which Mr. Robinson recommends should be reproduced by Photography, of which their Lordships approve. Resolved, That Mr. Thurston Thompson is to proceed to Portugal to make the Photographs; and if able, Mr. Thompson is also to make photographs in Spain.'For a more detailed account of Thompson photographic career, and the work of the Arundel Society, see Anthony Hamber, 'A higher branch of the art. Photographing the fine arts in England, 1839-1880' (Gordon and Breach, Amsterdam, 1996).