Franz Benque

Who was Franz Benque?

Franz Benque, known in Brazil as Francisco Benque, was a German photographer.

Son of a professor, Benque was born in Ludwigslust, nowadays a city located in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. He received lessons of photography from C.C. Hersen before moving to the then Austrian city Trieste in 1864, where he opened a studio in partnership with the Italian watchmaker Guglielmo Sebastianutti, marrying Sebastianutti' stepdaughter, Isabella, in 1868.

Despite being recognized by the local press and specialized organizations, receiving - among other things - a silver medal in the World Fair of Paris in 1867, Benque returned to Germany in 1869 and opened a studio with his cousin Conrad Kindermann in Hamburg.

One year later, in 1870, immigrated with his family to Brazil. With Alberto Henschel, a German from Berlin that migrated to Brazil in 1866, owner of the company Photographia Allemã with studios in Bahia and Pernambuco, Benque established the partnership Henschel & Benque Photographia Allemã that would become one of the most renowned Brazilian photography houses in that time.