George Washington Wilson

Artist of 22 portraits
Began his career as a portrait miniature painter, but started using photography in the late 1840s. By 1852, he was offering his sitters a photographic alternative to the painted portrait. In 1853 John Hay and Wilson established the partnership of Wilson and Hay, Photographers. This partnership was short-lived, but secured the important patronage of Queen Victoria, who commissioned them to make a record of the building of Balmoral Castle. Wilson first photographed the Queen in 1855. He went on to pioneer techniques for photography outside of the studio and the mass production of photographic prints. At the time of his death his photographic business was estimated to be the largest in Britain.