6 portraits of diplomats by Clinedinst 1903-5

May 11, 2022

Lot 199

6 portraits of diplomats by Clinedinst 1903-5

Estimate: $400 - $600

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About this Lot

Description

Barnett McFee CLINEDINST (1862-1953, photographer). A group of six formal portraits of foreign ambassadors to the United States, and other foreign diplomatic figures. Washington: Clinedinst, 1903-1905 and [undated].

6 original photographs (various sizes), tipped onto original thin card mounts (14 x 11 inches), sitters identified in pencil on verso of each mount.

Condition of mounts and photographs: see images

An interesting group of insightful portraits by Washington’s ‘court photographer’.

Comprising:

1.Italy: ’Baron Mayor des Planches / Italian Ambassador’ i.e Barone Francesco Luigi Edmondo Mayor Des Planches (1851-1920), image: 8 ½ x 6 3/8 inches, signed on the image and the mount by the photographer.

2.Persia/Iran: ‘Morteza Khan / Persian Ambassador’ i.e. General Morteza Khan, image: 9 x 6 3/8 inches, the image with hand-written copyright note and date ‘1905’, signed on the mount by the photographer.

3.Chile.: ‘Chilean Minister / Senor Walker Martinez’ i.e Don Joaquin Walker Martinez (1853-1928), image: 9 ¼ x 6 3/ inches, the image with hand-written copyright note and date ‘1903’, signed on the mount by the photographer.

4.Germany & Russia: a double portrait ‘ Baron von Sternberg German Ambassador / Count Cassini Ex Russian [Ambassador]’, i.e. Hermann Speck von Sternburg (1852-1908) + Arturo Paul Nicholas Cassini, Marquis de Capuzzuchi de Bologna, Count de Cassini (1836–1919), image: 8 5/8 x 7 ¼ inches, the image with hand-written copyright note and date ‘1904’, signed on the mount by the photographer

5.Germany: ‘German Ambassador / Baron von Sternberg’, i.e. Hermann Speck von Sternburg (1852-1908), image: 8 ¾ x 6 1/8 inches, signed on the mount by the photographer.

6.Japan: ‘Japanese Minister / Mr. Takahira’, i.e. Baron Kogoro Takahira (1854-1926), image: 8 ½ x 6 3/8 inches, , the image with hand-written copyright note and date ‘1904’, signed on the mount by the photographer.

Born in about 1838 in Virginia, Barnett Clinedinst Sr. first pursued a career as an artist, only turning to photography after the Civil War. He opened his first studio in 1880 in Baltimore. The business prospered and after his death in 1900, his son Barnett McFee Clinedinst, Jr., took over the Washington studio and built on his father’s already substantial reputation. He specialized in the sort of formal posed portraits seen here and his clients included both the foreign diplomatic corps as well as government officials, Washington Society, the military and, most notably, occupants of the White house, including Theodore Roosevelt, President Taft, and President Wilson. For three administrations he was the official White House.

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