Series·John Thomson, Cyprus 1878
People, villages and transport
8 photographs · 1878
Thomson numbered most of his photographs of people in a separate run, 750 to 758; the posed group at Nicosia from that run (751) is with the Nicosia views. They show a group of men with a laden donkey in a street, women and children in a room with a wooden window grille, a family in the same room at Lefka with a man among them, women working the winch of a well at Lefka, a family seated in a paved courtyard under a sign reading "Beaconsfield Chambers", a cart drawn by oxen, loaded camels resting in a street, and a half-length portrait of a seated man. Several plates carry Thomson's captions written on the emulsion, such as "Cyprian women" and "Cyprian family, Lefka".
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The negatives are held by the Wellcome Collection in London. Each item shows Wellcome's positive from the negative, the contact print made from it in 1981 and the glass plate. On the first (750) the 1981 print is the mirror image of the positive. A further negative of monks on a loggia, catalogued as Cyprus, 1869, is held back until its place and date are checked.
Sources
- Wellcome Collection, London. Catalogue records of John Thomson's Cyprus negatives and of the contact prints made from them in 1981.
19760iFour men with a laden donkey in a street
19764iWomen and children in a room
19766iLefka: a family in their house
19768iLefka: women at a well
19770iA family seated in a courtyard
19772iA bullock cart
19774iCamels resting in a street
19776iPortrait of a seated man
Photographs: John Thomson, Wellcome Collection, London (Public domain)