Jorge Marçal da Silva was born on June 30, 1878 and died at the age of 51, on May 15, 1929, in the city of Lisbon, where he always lived. He married Irma Leite Mendes on July 26, 1905, and they had four children, Maria Luiza, Jorge, Manoel and Octávio.

He studied at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa (Medical-Surgical School of Lisbon), joined the military service while still a student and after finishing his medical course in 1902, he was a surgeon at Hospital de São José, Hospital do Desterro and at Hospital D. Estefânia, where he assumed the position of Director infirmary in the 1920s. He was professor of Anatomy and Physiology between 1920 and 1928 at the Professional School of Nursing, Hospital de São Lázaro de Lisboa, where he was Director from 1924 until 1928.

During the years of the First World War, from 1916 to 1919, he was also an army surgeon at the Hospital Militar Permanente de Lisboa (Lisbon Military Hospital, also known as Hospital Militar Central or da Estrela).

He practiced private medicine in the district of ​​Arroios, Lisbon, where he lived.

Although the origin of his interest in photography is unknown, his training path, exercise of professional and military activity, took place in institutions and professional / social circles, in which the photographic practice in stereoscopy was already widely disseminated.

Jorge Marçal da Silva captured the first image on August 12, 1906, in the garden of his house in Lisbon, portraying a familiar environment spent in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. This photograph of his wife and still only daughter was followed by hundreds more, in different formats, the most recurrent being stereoscopic (Verascope), which he began using on February 28, 1909 and for about 20 years. We know from some of his images that it was in his house where he developed the glass plates and that was where he probably confirmed or printed them on paper.

After his death in 1929, the set remained in the family’s possession, initially remaining in Lisbon, and later transferred to the family home in northern Portugal.

On the initiative of his grandson, dr. Manuel Mendes Silva, on behalf of the family, made the first contacts in 2014 for the donation to the Lisbon City Council.

In 2016, a part of the estate was formally donated to Lisbon City Hall and transferred to the Lisbon Municipal Archive-Photographic, where it began to be processed.

There are 3175 images in various supports and formats (see table below), mostly gelatin and silver stereoscopic negatives in Verascope format glass (4,3 x 10,5 cm), wooden and cardboard packaging boxes, two small cabinets of 4 drawers, as well as a set of five registration books and one notebook, trademark leaflets and two paper masks.

This was followed in the same year by the deposit of a archival cabinet and its contents of 991 gelatin and silver stereoscopic positives in Verascope format glass. In 2019, a taxiphote and 211 glass positives included in the compartment, a notebook (catalog or thematic index of the chassis) and a projector also used as an enlarger were also deposited.

During the archival processing, it was possible to retrieve the information registered in the author’s books, regarding the subject and date, for the copies that contain inscriptions corresponding to the sequential number written by the author himself. With the death of Jorge Marçal da Silva, some copies remained unidentified in the books.

In the absence of inscriptions in the copies and in the register books, the comparison between images remained to identify the places, people (throughout their aging process) and the date of capture. The positive glasses, with richer inscriptions, most of them kept in the taxiphoto and in the closet, provided more information.

The comparison of inscriptions, images, supports and formats revealed some technical practices of laboratory work, moving the image to different supports, reframing, enlarging, among others.

We can verify, through the comparative analysis of the images and inscriptions, that Jorge Marçal da Silva started from the gelatin and silver negatives in glass, in Verascope format, to make the prints on direct collodion or gelatin paper, and the gelatin and silver slides in glass of the same shape (in some circular or rectangular masks were used).

The same relationship was established between gelatin and silver negatives on glass (8×10,7cm, 9×11,7cm or 9x12cm), gelatin and silver on glass slides (9x12cm) and prints on barium developing paper (9x12cm). We recorded the magnification/reframing of images, for negatives of the same format and support (ex JMS001535 and JMS001580), which in turn were positive (ex JMS001564). 

In other situations, we verified the use of the same images in gelatin and silver on glass slides (9x12cm), cellulose acetate negatives (8,5x11cm), gelatin and silver on glass negatives (9x12cm) and in prints on barium developing paper (9x12cm). In some of these prints, circular and oval masks were used.

The archival treatment of this collection gives access to images that photographer Jorge Marçal da Silva worked to be seen by his closest people, and also reveals those that he will have rejected in the work process, thus enabling an approximation to his sensitivity as an photographer.

The exhibition JORGE MARÇAL DA SILVA – THE IMMERSIVE DIMENSION proposes to present the documentary and photographic assets of the surgeon and amateur photographer, highlighting and maintaining throughout the exhibition the preference for capturing stereo images through his Jules Richard verascope stereo camera.

Following the donation of the collection to the Lisbon City Council, by the photographer’s family, represented by his grandson Dr. Manuel Mendes Silva, an exhibition or other dissemination initiative was immediately considered.

Having the collection in the custody of the Lisbon Municipal Archive – Photographic, the treatment and study of it has begun with the aim of incorporating and making available in the institution’s database all the documentation, as well as developing the concept of an exhibition.

Taking into account the significant number of stereoscopic glass plates – autochromes, negatives and positives, far greater than the number of single-lens negatives, of prints (different media), the exhibition has as its differentiating motto the presentation and dissemination of the author and the context of his photographic production, valuing this fascinating aspect, which allows to simulate the human binocular vision, that is, the creation of 3D images.

Thus, it presents an opportunity to focus attention on the stereoscopic component of this collection, following the success of the exhibition The Third Image – Stereoscopic Photography in Portugal and the Desire of 3D, held in 2015, resulting from the survey and study of the collections of stereoscopic photography from Portuguese museums and public archives, a project carried out by Stereo Visual Culture (CICANT, Lusófona University) which had the Municipal Archive of Lisbon| Photographic and the m|I|mo (Leiria’s Moving Image Museum) as co-organizers.

There are other elements in this collection, such as contact prints, packaging boxes (glass and paper for prints), as well as a set of register books, methodically created by Jorge Marçal da Silva, where you can find compiled notes and other information that the photographer collected and gathered from specialist publications on stereoscopy at the time.

In 2019, Jorge Marçal da Silva’s family delivered to the Archive, as a deposit, a filing cabinet as well as its contents composed of 991 stereoscopic positives – verascope format.

Following the organization of the exhibition, a second deposit was made, expanding the exhibition possibilities by providing a projector/amplifier – Ruby Enlarger and a Taxiphote, both from Jorge Marçal da Silva.

The Taxiphote, which contained 211 stereoscopic positives properly stored inside in the respective drawers, and which were accompanied by a small manuscript notebook, indicating the themes and locations of the glasses to be viewed.

These new elements (glass plates and historical devices) confirming the focus of the exhibition and consequently the concept and its design/ layout.

With numerous temporary interruptions, due to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a conditioning factor for the study of a collection of this typology, namely due to the issues involving the viewing of glass plates, the documental treatment of the collection has been carried out and executed conservation and restoration interventions, namely cleaning, disinfestation of wood (filers and storage boxes), digitalization/photography and packaging of glass plates in conservation material.

In parallel, the first surveys and selections were carried out to create the sequences and the nuclei to be presented in the exhibition, bearing in mind the approach to the stereoscopic and consequently immersive dimension that is intended to be highlighted.

The exhibition JORGE MARÇAL DA SILVA – THE IMMERSIVE DIMENSION, which is scheduled for the second half of 2022, aims to provide various experiences and levels of relationship between the audience and stereoscopic images, so it will include a heterogeneous selection of historical viewers (for the stereoscopic images) as well as other current equipment or devices that will allow the viewing of stereo and mono images.

In order to contextualize Jorge Marçal da Silva photographic production, original single-lens prints and current photographic prints will also be presented, as well as personal objects.

The project is curated by Sofia Castro and Vitor Gens from the Lisbon Municipal Archive – Photographic and consultancy by Victor Flores, researcher in early visual media at the Center for Research in Applied Communication, Culture and New Technologies (CICANT).

Along with the exhibition, the publication of a bilingual catalog is planned.