In 1982, the Regional Government of Madeira purchased the building – Atelier Vicente - and used it for a museum of photography. The studio remained in business until 1978. The museum is housed in what had been the premises of the commercial studio founded by Vicente Gomes da Silva (1827-1906) in 1863. It is the Museu de Fotografia da Madeira in Rua de Carriera. In May 2023, when we visited the city of Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira, we came across a museum that helped to bring 19th century photography back to life for me. Of interest, amongst each of the generations of Franz and Jakob’s descendants, there have been keen photographers including myself, They were the first ladies to have opened a commercial photography studio in what was to become South Africa. These two intrepid ladies founded a photographic studio in KWT. Amongst these were Franz’s nieces, Anna and Else Ginsberg. Because of his success in KWT, other members of his family came out from Germany to work in the town. I believe that despite becoming a successful industrialist and politician, Franz continued taking photographs as a hobby. Although Jakob continued the studio after 1885, Franz diversified his activities by founding soap, match, and candle factories in the town. The two men set up what became a successful commercial photographic studio in the town, which they might have chosen because many of its European inhabitants were German speakers. Aged 18, he arrived there with his future brother-in-law Jakob Rindl.

I have written a book about her: “Between Two Islands: Julia Margaret Cameron and Her Circle”.įive years after Julia left the Isle of Wight, my great-grandfather Franz Ginsberg travelled from the German Empire to King Williams Town (‘KWT’) in the eastern part of what was then the southern African Cape Colony.

It was here that she produced most of her highly creative photographs. She lived at Dimbola Lodge in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight between 18. A visit to the Isle of Wight in 2022 led to me becoming interested in the life and work of the pioneer of artistic photography – Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). ALMOST WITHOUT REALISING IT, it seems that I have developed an interest in 19th century photographers.

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