{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O178765"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O178765/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O178765","accessionNumber":"E.747-2005","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Photograph of Bertram Potter (1872-1918) in a boat on the edge of a lake","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Walter Bertram Potter (1872-1918), known as Bertram, was the younger brother of the children's author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943). As a child he shared his sister's passions for drawing and natural history and was joint custodian of a menagerie of exotic pets, including salamanders, bats, rabbits, mice, lizards and snails.  It was Bertram who first encouraged Beatrix to publish some early rabbit drawings as greetings cards in 1890 and she continued to seek his advice when illustrating the Peter Rabbit books.  Although overshadowed by the success of his sister, Bertram became an artist in his own right. He produced much larger scale oil paintings and etchings and exhibited work at the Royal Academy.\r\n\r\nBertram and Beatrix were frequent sitters for their father's photographs.  Rupert Potter (1832-1914) took up photography in the 1860s when it was still a relatively new art form. An enthusiastic and skilled amateur, he was elected to the Photographic Society of London in 1869 and later contributed to photographic exhibitions.  It was his delight to photograph his family during the long summer holidays to Scotland and the Lake District. Photography was an expensive and laborious process yet both Beatrix and Bertram appear to have endured patiently the elaborate choreography and the camera’s uncomfortably long exposure. Rupert's prolific legacy of several hundred photographs forms a broad pictorial account of their lives from infancy to adulthood.  \r\n\r\nRupert was also a skilled landscape photographer.  He photographed in particular the countryside around Eastwood in Dunkeld, Wray Castle near Ambleside and Lingholm on the edge of Derwentwater.  In 1890 the Potter family rented Coniston Bank, a house overlooking Coniston Water; his photograph of Bertram captures the misty stillness of the lake on a sunny autumn afternoon.","physicalDescription":"Photograph of a man, Bertram Potter, sitting in a boat on the edge of a lake.  With a rocky shoreline on the left of the photograph and hills on the far side of the lake in the background.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Potter, Rupert (1832-1914)","id":"A19569"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print on paper","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Tourism & Travel","id":"THES250702"},{"text":"Scotland","id":"THES262877"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"44","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Coniston Water","id":"x43462"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"September 1890","earliest":"1890-09-01","latest":"1890-09-30"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Joan Duke","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"167","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"221","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Sep 1890'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription by Rupert Potter on verso"},{"content":"'PHOTOGRAPHED BY / RUPERT POTTER.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Ink stamp on verso"}],"objectHistory":"Joan Duke gifted a collection of photographs by Rupert Potter to the Museum in 1983. Part of the gift was subsequently given to the Photographs section of (what is now) the Word & Image Department (E.739-2005 - E.765-2005). The rest is catalogued on the museum's object database as AR.14:1-42-1983. \r\n\r\nA second gift from Joan Duke, the Duke Collection, was subsequently acquired by the Museum in 2006, accessioned as AAD/2006/4 but catalogued individually on the library and object databases.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph of Bertram Potter (1872-1918) in a boat at the edge of Coniston Water; albumen print by Rupert Potter (1832-1914), September 1890.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Coniston Water","id":"x43462"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Potter, Bertram (1872-1918)","id":"N5414"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"lakes","id":"AAT8680"},{"text":"boats","id":"AAT178749"},{"text":"hills","id":"AAT8777"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.747-2005"],"accessionNumberNum":"747","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2005,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-25","recordCreationDate":"2008-12-10","availableToBook":false}}