Leba, B.

Identity

Category

Partnership

Alternative name or descriptor

Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

Status

  • Professional

Details

Life dates

Activity

1853 - 1858 + Bruxelles, Rue Neuve, 75<53> then 71
Successor: Leba Veuve B.
"B. Leba, of Paris". Photographer and daguerreotypist. One of the leading Brussels studios in the 1850s. Jean Louis Bargignac (° Cozes [Charente-Maritime, F], 28.5.1816; + Brussels, 9.6.1858) arrived at this address (no. 71) on 11.1.1853, coming from Lille [F]. Advertisements for no. 75 from 20.4.1853 followed by no. 71 from 28.5.1853. Note that Bargignac had already been recorded as a daguerreotype artist domiciled in Paris [F] at the death of a daughter in Anzin [Nord, F] in September 1844. Bargignac was recorded as an artist painter living at Rue Neuve, 71 when he married Bernardine Caroline Théodora Hirza Lejeune (° Paris [F], 8.9.1824; + Paris [F], 7.3.1895) in Brussels on 3.12.1856. The bride was also recorded as an artist-painter living at this address. The origin of the pseudonym Leba might be a merger of the surnames of the married couple LEjeune and BArgignac. Alternatively, considering that the name "abel" (in lowercase) appears as a third forename for Bargignac in official documents in 1836 and 1855, "B. Leba" might also be the reverse of "Abel B(argignac)".
Leba soon gained royal patronage. He was summoned to the palace to take a Daguerreotype portrait of King Leopold I when “the artist’s operation was a total success” (Journal de la Belgique, 21.10.1853). It was soon followed by further successful Daguerreotype sessions with the Count of Flanders and the King of Portugal (L'Emancipation, 10.7.1854). "Photochemical portrait of any person and even a young child able to sustain a short period of immobility, on a metal plate, for 5 francs, likeness and permanence guaranteed" (L'Indépendance, unspecified date). On the back of a daguerreotype, c. 1853, "Daguerreotype portraits on silver plate and on paper, coloured for 5 francs and above [...] from 10pm until 4pm. Post-mortem portraits".
Leba supplied the forty salted paper prints illustrating: Edouard Fétis, "La Bible de P.-P. Rubens", Brussels, C. Muquardt, 1858. Bargignac's son Paul "Emile" Abel (° Paris [F], 2.12.1836) was also registered as a photographer at this address in 1856. Voignier records a certain "Laba" operating as a daguerreotypist in Lille [F], Rue de la Quenette, 5 from about 1853 to 1856.

Locations

1853 - 1858 + Bruxelles, Rue Neuve, 75<53> then 71

Exhibitions

Genres / subject matter

Techniques

Bibliography/Webography

Context

Affiliations

Management

Record source

DIRECTORY_1997#2617

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation/revision

SFJ revised 10.12.2017 & 3.12.2018; MD revised 30.4.2020 & 31.10.2024

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