These rarely-seen photographs of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco were taken by a world-renowned photographer and rediscovered in the Country Life Archive
Country Life contributor Geoffrey Roland Ballance died too young, but some of his finest work lives on in our Archive, finds Melanie Bryan.
Ninety-nine years ago, Country Life’s final edition of 1927 contained an article, with photographs by renowned photographer Geoffrey Roland Ballance, on the Palace and Gardens of the Prince of Monaco.
Ballance was born in London’s heavily-polluted Hackney, in 1874, and caught tuberculosis, the debilitating lung infection, in his early twenties. He moved to St Moritz, Switzerland, to convalesce in the clear, mountain air. There, the keen outdoorsman took up the fairly-new, patience-requiring art form of photography, and went about mastering the expensive, but ethereal platinum print process.
Country Life commissioned Ballance on numerous occasions and shared his beautifully composed and exposed photographic views of European architecture, flora and fauna to readers in the UK.
Ballance's Monaco work was no exception, and, granted permission to photograph inside the palace by Louis II, Prince of Monaco (who, incidentally, was the prince who oversaw the inaugural Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix in 1929), it was the cornerstone of this magazine’s Houses & Gardens of the Riviera collection.
For this collection, Ballance photographed the Palace of Monaco, its State Apartments, gardens and breathtaking, panoramic views. He later returned to the Principality in 1929 to capture the Prince’s astonishing and extensive succulent collection, nestled high above the rock-clinging palace.
Ballance died young, aged just 60, but some of the beautiful work he left behind lives on in the Country Life Archive — a selection of which we've reproduced below.
The view over Monte-Carlo and La Condamine from the palace, with Mont Agel framing the Principality behind.
The eastern Riviera from the ramparts of the Prince’s Palace.
The magnificent Hercules Gallery was created by Prince Honoré II in tribute to his son, Prince Hercule, who was accidentally killed in 1651 by a musketeer on target practice.
The Throne Room, decorated in crimson and gold. Formal ceremonies have been held in the imposing room since the 16th century, with the current throne dating back to 1881. The portraits behind the throne include one of Louis II’s father, Prince Albert I (right), by Léon Bonnat.
The Duke of York’s room, named in honour of Prince Edward, Duke of York, the younger brother of Britain’s George III. In 1767, the Duke, then 28, fell ill on a voyage to Genoa, landing at Monaco. He did not recover from his illness, dying in this very room.
Opuntias, or prickly pear cactus, frame a walkway in the upper cactus garden.
The Prince’s collection of desert plants was extensive, and described in a Country Life article as 'Weird Plant Architecture'.
The Country Life Image Archive contains more than 150,000 images documenting British culture and heritage, from 1897 to the present day. To search and purchase images directly from the Image Archive, please register here.
