Rubellin, Alphonse, Turkish Lady and the Zeibeck

Rubellin, Alphonse, albumin print, c.1870, image shows a woman in traditional dress with a Zeibeck soldier, pasted to period card, 26.5cm x 21cm

Rubellin, Alphonse, a 19th-century French photographer, is known for his work in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey. Despite his relative anonymity in standard bibliographies, Rubellin and his son operated the Photographie Parisienne studio in Smyrna (now İzmir) during the 1870s and 1880s. Their studio, located on Rue Franque, Passage Psaro-Khan, was a known for producing photographic prints labeled "Rubellin et Fils."

The Rubellins primarily captured scenes throughout the Middle East, contributing significantly to visual documentation of the region during that period. Surviving prints can be found in institutions such as The American College of Greece, the Getty Institute’s Gary Edwards Collection, and the Jafet Library of the American College in Beirut. Despite limited biographical details, their work remains an important part of the photographic record of the late Ottoman Empire.