This photographic portrait of a European gentleman was taken at the G.R. Lambert & Co. Studio. Among the numerous photographic studios set up in Singapore in the later decades of the 19th century, it was the longest surviving. The German firm also produced one of the most comprehensive collections of pictorial documentation in Singapore’s photographic history. Photography was invented in 1939 and introduced in Singapore in the decades following the arrival of British and other Europeans. Advancements in the technology such as the development of the albumen print (production of a photographic image from a negative) changed the nature of photography, as it evolved from a form of documentation to become a commercially viable economic sector in Singapore. These photographic studios were visited by well-to-do families and individuals, mostly wealthy businessmen or European traders, government officials or military officers. Such practices could be seen as a continuation of traditional portraiture as a privilege of the affluent.
