Printed: 2024-04-27
Billing
Identity
Category
Person (Male)
Alternative name or descriptor
- (In the) Bazar Pantechnique
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Status
- Professional
Details
Life dates
Activity
1842 */ Bruxelles, Rue Ducale, près du Parc (Palais d'Orange)
Operator in the establishment exploiting Beard’s patented system, one of the first two studios in Belgium, from early March 1842. "On top of the building used as the Bazar Pantechnique near the Palace of the Prince of Orange, a very elegant pavilion has just been erected, which dominates the entire view of the Park and which is currently the fashionable rendez-vous of the distinguished men in town. In less time (three or four seconds) than needed to say it, your portrait is made by Mr Daguerre’s photographic process, developed to its latest degree of perfection. The samples that could be seen at the 1838 exhibition [sic, for 1839] and in some shop-windows of our bookshops are but crude drafts as compared with Mr Billing’s miniatures. Taken with the speed of lightning, countenances no longer retain that gloomy and sad aspect which is obtained by too long a state of immobility. The most delicate pencil could not draw better lines. In a word it is the living portrait of the model, feature by feature. With an exquisite politeness, Mr Billing keenly shows to the inquisitive his gallery of Brussels notables who have passed through his salon, and who will thus pass into posterity" (Le Courrier Belge, 8.3.1842). The camera had been covered by a Belgian import patent granted to William Wright (see that name) in March 1841.
Billing was still operating competitively in July 1842: "Mr Billing, the agent for Mr Beart [sic], inventor of the improved daguerreotype, will make anyone, for 20 francs, fly into posterity, who can stay motionless for fifteen to twenty seconds before his photographic process at the Bazar Pantechnique. The portraits taken by Mr Billing are superior to those taken by Brandt [sic] frères insofar as it would be impossible to render eyes brighter or shadows more intense" (Méphistophélès, 17.7.1842).
Operator in the establishment exploiting Beard’s patented system, one of the first two studios in Belgium, from early March 1842. "On top of the building used as the Bazar Pantechnique near the Palace of the Prince of Orange, a very elegant pavilion has just been erected, which dominates the entire view of the Park and which is currently the fashionable rendez-vous of the distinguished men in town. In less time (three or four seconds) than needed to say it, your portrait is made by Mr Daguerre’s photographic process, developed to its latest degree of perfection. The samples that could be seen at the 1838 exhibition [sic, for 1839] and in some shop-windows of our bookshops are but crude drafts as compared with Mr Billing’s miniatures. Taken with the speed of lightning, countenances no longer retain that gloomy and sad aspect which is obtained by too long a state of immobility. The most delicate pencil could not draw better lines. In a word it is the living portrait of the model, feature by feature. With an exquisite politeness, Mr Billing keenly shows to the inquisitive his gallery of Brussels notables who have passed through his salon, and who will thus pass into posterity" (Le Courrier Belge, 8.3.1842). The camera had been covered by a Belgian import patent granted to William Wright (see that name) in March 1841.
Billing was still operating competitively in July 1842: "Mr Billing, the agent for Mr Beart [sic], inventor of the improved daguerreotype, will make anyone, for 20 francs, fly into posterity, who can stay motionless for fifteen to twenty seconds before his photographic process at the Bazar Pantechnique. The portraits taken by Mr Billing are superior to those taken by Brandt [sic] frères insofar as it would be impossible to render eyes brighter or shadows more intense" (Méphistophélès, 17.7.1842).
Locations
1842 */ Bruxelles, Rue Ducale, près du Parc (Palais d'Orange)
Exhibitions
Genres / subject matter
Techniques
Bibliography/Webography
Context
Affiliations
Management
Record source
DIRECTORY_1997#256
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation/revision
SFJ revised 22.1.2021; SFJ revised 11.5.2022 based on information supplied by M. Demaeght