Francis Chit

Francis Chit, born Chit and known by the noble titles Khun Sunthonsathitsalak and Luang Akani Naruemitr, was a Thai photographer and the first to practice the craft professionally. He worked as a royal court photographer for kings Mongkut (Rama IV) and Chulalongkorn (Rama V), and also operated out of his studio, known in its later days as Francis Chit and Sons, which occupied a floating house in the Kudi Chin neighborhood. He contributed significantly to the photographic record of Siam, and the originals of his works now form part of the National Archives' royal collection, which has been inscribed in the UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. Chit was born circa 1830, a son of a military marksman of the Front Palace named Tueng. Little of his personal life was documented, though he was probably a Catholic member of the Kudi Chin community, with partial Portuguese ancestry; he had the baptismal name Francis. Chit probably learned daguerreotype photography around 1847 from the French missionary priest Louis François Larnaudie, who had introduced photographic equipment to Siam in 1845, or the bishop Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix. Chit adopted the collodion process around a decade later, probably having learned the technique from Luang Wisutyothamat (widely regarded as the first Thai photographer) and Swiss photographer Pierre Rossier, who visited Bangkok in 1861. He established his own studio in 1863, occupying a floating house near Santa Cruz Church, the first Thai person to take up photography as a profession. He advertised his business in many of the fledgling Thai and English newspapers of the time. For instance, one such piece is found in the 24 November 1864 issue of the The Siam Times and another one in the 16 January 1865 issue of the Bangkok Recorder, advertising the sale of prints as well as visits for portraiture services. Portrait of King Chulalongkorn at his second coronation, 1873. In his government service, Chit was a royal servant of the Front Palace under Second-King Pinklao until Pinklao's death in 1866, when he transferred to serve the Royal Palace of King Mongkut. He received the noble title Khun Sunthonsathitsalak ('officer for fine likeness images'), and served under the department of the royal armoury. Other from royal portraiture, major works he produced in this official capacity include an expedition to photograph the ruins of Phimai (now Phimai Historical Park in Nakhon Ratchasima Province), as well as photographing the total solar eclipse of 18 August 1868, in which he was part of the royal entourage observing the phenomenon at the village of Wa Ko (now in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province). Mongkut died shortly after the eclipse, possibly due to malaria contracted during the expedition, and Chit continued to serve under his son and successor Chulalongkorn. He documented many royal events, and accompanied the King on his visits to Singapore and Java and to British India, though no photographs from the trips are clearly attributable to him.