Lloyd Branson, carte-de-visite

  • Creator: Theodore M. Schleier (1832-1908)
  • Title: Lloyd Branson, carte-de-visite
  • Date: 1873
  • Description: This photograph shows a young man wearing a frock coat, white shirt, and bow tie, seated on a low, fringed chair, with legs crossed and holding a paintbrush and palette, before an easel holding a portait of another young man.
  • Historical Note: This carte-de-visite, created for painter Lloyd Branson (1854-1925) by photographer Theodore M. Schleier, may have been the younger artist's first professional calling card. Schleier, who was born in Prussia, is known to have worked in Nashville during the period from 1859-1869. He may also have worked in Knoxville during some of that period for he created a four-part panorama of the city in 1865 and is known to have been active there in the 1870s and 1880s. Branson, born in Knoxville to English parents, studied at the National Academy of Design in New York from 1873-1875,when he won a prize that facilitated travel to Europe to continue his studies. He returned to Knoxville in 1878 to become one of the area's preeminent artists. In the early 1890s, Branson was commissioned to design a statue of a soldier for the top of the Confederate monument at Bethel Cemetery. Bethel, a burial ground initially owned by Knox County, was enlarged during the Confederate occupation of Knoxville by two acres from the estate of Joseph Mabry who lived nearby. Branson's design for the monument was executed in Tennessee gray marble by Union veteran George Hoyle Whitaker, who had served in the 143rd New York Infantry.
  • Institution: McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library
  • Publisher: Digital Initiatives, James E. Walker Library, Middle Tennessee State University
  • Rights: Images reproduced on this website are intended for individual, educational use only. For research inquiries about specific objects or requests for high resolution images, contact the McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library.
  • URL: http://cdm15838.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/shades
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