Historic England Acquires World-Class Collection Featuring Earliest and Finest Photographs of England
Historic England is pleased to announce that it has acquired the Janette Rosing Collection of England: a world-class collection of some of the finest earliest landscape photography of England, taken by leading practitioners of the time.
The Rosing Collection
The Rosing Collection includes over 8,000 original black and white photographs of English architecture, landscapes and maritime history from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, when England was undergoing large-scale changes powered by industrialisation, urbanisation and developments in transport.
The photographs cover every English county and were taken by leading photographers of the time, including W.G. Campbell, William Russell Sedgefield, Henry William Verscholye, Samuel Smith of Wisbech, William J. Cox of Plymouth, James Mudd, and Samuel Buckle, among others. Alongside these are many photographs of England by the commercial firms of J. Valentine, George Washington Wilson, Francis Frith, and Francis Bedford. It includes unique early images by Linnaeus Tripe and John Wiggin of Ipswich.
The photographs reflect Janette Rosing's keen interest in England's landscapes, architecture and maritime history, depicting its distinctive coastal and inland landscapes, built heritage, ancient buildings and monuments, towns and villages, street life, and tall sailing ships.
The Rosing Collection is significant as the development of photography in this period was pivotal in the history of visual arts: a time that established photography as a legitimate art form, an important means of landscape recording, and a powerful tool for documenting the world.
Advances in photography allowed photographers to produce more sophisticated images and experiment with techniques and styles, while developments in transport enabled them to travel further afield from their home location. The collection contains examples of photographs produced by all the photographic processes of the era, including Calotype, Collodion, dry plate and platinum.
Who was Janette Rosing?
Janette Rosing (1942 to 2021) was a renowned photographic consultant, connoisseur, and collector who dedicated her life to studying and amassing a collection of 19th and early 20th century photographs.
Born and raised in London, Rosing began an obsession with historical photographs of England's past when she stumbled upon an image of Hartland Quay on the Devon coast before a storm ravaged it. This discovery sparked her fascination with depictions of England in old photographs, and she spent her life attending photograph fairs and auctions in pursuit of new acquisitions for her collection. Rosing's expertise in historical photography was widely recognised, and she provided consultancy services to institutions such as the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, international auction houses, and museums. In the pre-internet era, Rosing was a trusted advisor to collectors, overseas dealers and institutions regarding photographs offered in London salerooms. This collection is a testament to Janette Rosing's passion and commitment.
The collection has been acquired as part of the UK Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme, administrated by Arts Council England. The scheme allows individuals to donate important cultural items to museums and galleries in return for a tax reduction, ensuring that collections like Rosing’s are preserved for the benefit of the public.
Since arriving at the Historic England Archive, the photographs have undergone a detailed conservation assessment and await further cataloguing and digitisation. In due course, it is hoped that fundraising efforts will help catalogue and digitise the entire collection.
From maritime scenes by James Mudd to detailed architectural studies by Linnaeus Tripe, each photograph in this exceptional collection offers a glimpse into the past, showcasing Janette Rosing’s expert eye for quality. Rosing's collection will continue to connect us with our history and inspire future generations to appreciate England's rich cultural legacy.
We are delighted to have acquired this historic collection, assembled by the photography expert Janette Rosing over 50 years of assiduous and discerning collecting. The photographs provide a wealth of images of England from the second half of the 19th century through to the early 20th century. The scale and rarity of her collection makes this archive of images of great national significance.
This acquisition adds to the Historic England Archive's growing collection of over 14 million items and further strengthens its commitment to preserving the nation's heritage. The Rosing Collection's breadth of subject matter and wide geographical spread make it a superb complement to Historic England's Early Photographic Print Collection, which comprises over 22,000 items and is available to search online.
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