Born in Venice (1832), Felice Beato became a commercial photographer after training under his brother-in-law James Robertson in Constantinople.
He photographed the Crimean War, the Indian Rebellion, and the Second Opium War before arriving in Yokohama in 1863.
Using connections in military and diplomatic circles, he photographed people and places foreigners were often forbidden to enter—earning the title "father of Yokohama photography.
" He was an early practitioner of hand-colored photographs and summarized his work in a two-volume album published in 1868.
His younger brother Antonio Beato worked mainly in Egypt; this site focuses on Beato’s bakumatsu–Meiji Japan holdings.
Chronological notes based on primary sources and institutional records. Use alongside the introduction above.
Born in Venice in 1832 in the Lombardy–Venetian Kingdom under Austrian rule; the family’s move to British-protected Corfu is often cited as the basis for British nationality.
Raised in Constantinople (Istanbul), he studied under the prominent photographer James Robertson, his sister’s husband.
Around 1853 he began photographing with Robertson and opened a studio in Pera, Constantinople, as "Robertson & Beato."
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In 1856, during his apprenticeship, he photographed the aftermath of the Crimean War—the start of a turbulent half-century career.
He covered the Indian Rebellion (1857) and the Second Opium War, building early examples of photographic reportage from places little known in Europe and North America.
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On the Anglo-French China expedition he traveled from India via Hong Kong to Guangzhou; records include the capture of the Taku forts.
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Called "father of Yokohama photography," he arrived in 1863 and, through military and diplomatic contacts, could photograph sites normally closed to foreigners.
After his studio burned in 1866, he re-shot over months and published Photographic Views of Japan with Historical and Descriptive Notes (2 vols., 1868).
Among early practitioners of hand-colored photographs; his views, customs, and studio portraits influenced photographers under later British rule.
In 1877 he sold his studio, stock, and negatives to Baron Raimund von Stillfried.
He left Japan nearly penniless in 1884, passed through Sudan, and opened a new studio in Burma (Myanmar).
In Burma he expanded an antiques business with branches in Colombo and London, and became an entrepreneur in electricity, life insurance, and mining.
His final years were spent in Florence, Italy.
Skilled at joining multiple negatives into panoramas; a Pehtang (Beitang) panorama combined seven prints to over two meters in length.
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