The Poor Man's Picture Gallery
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'The Poor Man's Picture Gallery' was published
on 20 October 2014, and was written by Brian May and Denis
Pellerin.
The book studies stereo cards produced in the 1850's and 1860's
which emulate famous paintings of the time. While the paintings
were only available to the wealthy, their scenes were reproduced
and photographed to create stereo card copies which were cheap to
produce and available to everyone. Despite their popularity at
the time, they are hard to find now, and Brian has one of the
largest collections in the world.
The book contains 208 pages and 260 illustrations, and comes in a
slipcase with an 'Owl' stereoscope viewer.
To coincide with the book, a free exhibition titled 'The Poor
Man's Picture Gallery - Victorian Art And Stereoscopic
Photography' was held at the Tate Britain gallery in London, from
7 October 2014 to 1 November 2015. The exhibition features stereo
cards from Brian's personal collection, alongside the original
paintings that inspired them.
Brian also contributed to a TV programme titled 'Thomas
Chatterton: The Myth Of The Doomed Poet' which was broadcast on
BBC 4 on 15 June. 'The Death Of Chatterton' was a Victorian
painting by Henry Wallis, a recreation of which appears on the
cover of the book.
A set of 12 stereoscope cards from the book were later included
in the 'Victorian Gems' boxed set in 2015.
More details about the book can be found on the website at http://www.thepoormanspicturegallery.com
