Pedro Hebert

( fl Madrid, 1865). Spanish photographer. He was considered the finest of the early portrait photographers in Madrid, and he had his most prosperous studio in the heart of Madrid's photographic district (Calle del Prado, 10). At the time when cartes-de-visite began to flourish, Hebert became portrait photographer to the Spanish Royal House; in keeping with this station, he applied an academic style to his work. In his earliest years as portrait photographer he was also a painter of canvases and miniatures; this skill carried over into his photographic portraits, which were sometimes illuminated painstakingly by hand (Madrid, Pal. Real). His album of views of Salamanca (Montreal, Cent. Can. Archit.) is his highest achievement; although uncharacteristic of his day-to-day work, it is technically innovative and is probably the most accomplished and aesthetically appealing treatment of Salamanca found in 19th-century photography.

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