[KRAKOW - group in regional costumes from around Krakow - posed photograph in cabinet format]. [before 1880]...

[KRAKOW - group in regional costumes from around Krakow - posed photograph in cabinet format]. [before 1880]. Photograph form. 13.3x9.7 cm on original base form. 16.7x10.9 cm, by Walery Rzewuski in Cracow.
Photograph taken in an atelier - a group in regional costumes against a background of a tree and a brushwood fence. Depicts a woman and a man against a background of painted and natural scenery. Photo pasted on original cardboard backing with red border. On the lower margin of the backing print: "Photographed from nature by Walery Rzewuski in Krakow, Wesoła, 27 Podwale St. B.", on the back an advertising vignette of the atelier. Frontispiece slightly stained, overall good condition.
W. Rzewuski (1837-1888) - photographer from Cracow, social activist, one of the pioneers of Polish photography. He studied at the Technical Institute in Cracow and from 1857-1858 at the Vienna Polytechnic. From 1859 he worked as a photographer, first outdoors, then in a studio in a rented room at 83 Grodzka St. In 1861 he opened an establishment at 6 Krupnicza St., then at 29 Kopernika St. Between 1864 and 1867 he put up a house at 27b Kolejowa St., where on November 1, 1867 he opened his renowned establishment with a modern laboratory atelier. Prominent citizen and councilor of the city of Cracow. Known for his ethnographic photography, landscapes of the Tatra Mountains, he created so-called "living pictures". Author of portraits, including insurgents of 1863 and the first album photos of actors.