conservatory

The time when a camera shop was a camera shop......Really pleased that you are posting these dry plates as Im expermenting in the process myself and finding that the results are looking a good match www.flickr.com/photos/johnkeys/9683927927/in/photostream/ ...Thanks

I'd be interested to know the date of this photograph as my grandfather managed the fine art department until shortly before his death in 1952. He was a director of the company from about 1905 and I believe he ran these shops from about that time. The address was originally 7, 9 and 11, Grainger Street West, but later became 58, 60 and 62 Grainger Street. There's a later picture taken in 1935 at; www.flickr.com/photos/39821974@N06/4081040765 The company minute books of board meetings are in the Tyne & Wear Archives and make fascinating reading. Of Joseph Swan there is little mention as he was a sleeping partner.

This photograph isn't dated but we think it's from the early 1900s

That sounds about right. Electric trams were introduced in 1901, so that's the earliest date as the poles for the wiring are in the centre of the road. They were certainly keen to get a lot of stock displayed in the windows! In those days most houses had pictures hanging on every wall, from country mansions to working class terraces. Until the Great War this was a highly profitable department of the business. Things changed after 1914. Pictures were still popular until the Second World War, but the gallery and fine art department were in decline. This picture must have been taken when it was at its peak. At this time the company had created a separate department to market prints in colour or black and white of a painting "Despised and Rejected of Men!" by Sigismund Goetze, 1904. It travelled around Britain with a lecturer giving talks about the picture. I have a large black and white copy and the pamphlet that went with it. Prints were still being sold to churches in the USA in the 1960's! See; jloughnan.tripod.com/despised.htm It's interesting to note that the company had given up one shop unit by 1935, but the whole appearance had been greatly modernised, see; www.flickr.com/photos/newcastlelibraries/4081040765

Date on negative 6/3/21

Same boys as this one:

They standing boy really looks like his father.

Enlarge the 'father' using the Persistent URL and compare to this: www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_students2.htm . You will need a magnifying glass! And also this self-portrait (c. 1913, about seventeen years later than this shot): www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/pub/itemDetail?artworkID=52880 . Under a magnifying glass, there is a similar rash over the left eyebrow, and a mole in front of the left ear. Is this Frederick McCubbin and family in about 1895, possibly in Melbourne?

Assuming it is the McCubbin family in about 1895, that is his wife Annie (married in 1889). Eldest boy is Louis Frederick (b.1890), younger boy on his father's lap is Alexander (b.1893), the baby is Hugh Montgomery (b.1894). A daughter Mary (b.1891) had recently died in a tragic accident (in1894). Is this why they look so sad? They had three more children. Quick McCubbin biography here: www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_biography.htm The wife, Annie was the model in several of his most famous paintings, "On the Wallaby Track" (1896), and "The Pioneer" (1904): www.artistsfootsteps.com/html/McCubbin_wallaby.htm and www.ngv.vic.gov.au/collection/pub/itemDetail?artworkID=52858 If this is true, it is mind-blowing!

There is another picture taken a few seconds later (or earlier?). The other picture has been retouched to remove frowns, bags under the eyes, etc., so that the family looks relatively happy. Interesting to compare all the faces using the Persistent URL magnifier. www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=386437&...