José Albiñana Rubio (1820-1879). The first court photographer in Spain

2025 | ISSUE 41 | PAGE 170

• PDF 12_2025 BARRIONUEVO ALMUZARA.pdf

Author

Keywords

José Albiñana, Spanish Royal Household, daguerreotype, miniature painting, photography

RESUMEN

In February 1850 José Albiñana Rubio (1820–1879) was made daguerreotype portrait photographer to the Spanish court, the first appointment to the royal household in this role. In the 1850s he produced the earliest known photographic portraits of Queen Isabel II, as well as the first image (a daguerreotype) of the Museo del Prado. For over two decades José and his brother Salvador were active in their photographic establishment in Madrid, where they hand coloured portraits by renowned miniaturists such as Francisco Reigón, Gabriel Domínguez and Juan Bautista Ugalde. The promoter of various technical advances in collaboration with Eusebio Juliá, Albiñana also worked for the Junta General de Estadística [General Statistical Council], now the Instituto Geográfico Nacional [National Geographical Institute], from 1863 to 1869, the year when he abandoned photography.