L1.88 Bleek, Wilhelm [May 1871?]

L1.88 Bleek, Wilhelm [May 1871?]

Photographs and Portraits

1871

Carte de visite. Sepia head and shoulders portrait of Bleek, facing to his left. Pasted onto carte de visite bearing an italicized imprint below the photograph: S.B. Barnard Cape Town. The imprint on the back is the same as that of #87 above. Negative #8498. Oakleaf Album.

The imprint and card format are identical to those of a photograph of Jacob Nijn taken on May 23, 1871, reprinted in Andrew Bank's Bushmen in a Victorian World (Cape Town, 2006, p. 119, Figs 4.11 and 4.12). If negative numbers are recorded on the Nijn and //Kabbo portraits and they are close to Neg. #8498 it would confirm that Bleek also had his portrait taken when he, Jacob Nijn and //Kabbo entered Samuel Baylis Barnard's studio at 37 Adderley Street that day in May 1871.