| Description | Rupert Potter (1832-1914) was the son of Edmund Potter who owned a large calico printing works and who served as a Liberal member of parliament from 1861-1874. Potter was educated at Manchester College before training as a barrister in London, once trained he specialised in equity law and conveyancing. In 1863 he married Helen Leech (1839-1932), the daughter of a wealthy cotton merchant and shipbuilder. They had two children, the children’s author Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) and Walter Bertram Potter (1872-1918).
Potter was both a keen artist and amateur photographer, he also collected art. Potter was a close friend of the painter Sir John Everett Millais, he assisted the artist by photographing sitters when portraits were incomplete. His daughter Beatrix enjoyed a close relationship with her father and he was a significant influence in her development as an artist and a writer.
The photographs by Rupert Potter are mostly of portraits in the studio of Sir John Everett Millais but there are some photographic portraits of individuals. The photographs have been arranged into the following folders: Pictures in Sir John Millais' Studio 1880-1891; Millais in studio 1885-1891; John Bright, Dalguise, Grey Lady, Gladstone; Adult portraits 1881-1895 (spanning 4 folders); Childrens portraits 1880-1892 (spanning 7 folders). |