'A connoisseur'

A carte de visite showing a white cat perusing a carte de visite album filled with portraits of other cats.

This is one of the 'Brighton cats' by photographer Henry Pointer, who produced a series of well over one hundred portraits showing his feline pets in whimsical poses or engaged in anthropomorphic activities. Born in Berkshire, the son of an agricultural labourer, he joined the 1st Life Guards and was billeted at the Albany Street barracks in London. He met his wife, artist Rose Myra Drummond, when she was looking for a model with good legs to pose as a Roman soldier. After their marriage, the couple moved to Brighton, where Henry initially worked as a drill master before becoming a photographer based in Kemptown's Bloomsbury Place. He died there on 4 January 1889 at the age of 66.