When the 13-year-old Hannibal Knowles joined Eton College, his father – award-winning photographer Jonathan Knowles – decided to capture the moment with a special portrait.
The pair then re-created the image in school dress every term (or half as it is known at Eton) as Hannibal (TEWH) made his way through the school. The final photograph was taken this summer.
What is revealed is a schoolboy’s journey from a young 13-year-old, through adolescence to a mature 18-year-old B Blocker. The images were printed in sequence, framed and presented to be kept at the school.
“When I was planning that first shoot of Hannibal in school dress in September 2010, I thought we could actually take one every half,” said Jonathan. “Fortunately, he was always quite happy about it. I think it’s an incredibly interesting record of the metamorphosis of one boy, but it’s also symbolic of what the school actually does.”
Over the centuries there has been a tradition for boys to have their images captured in leaving portraits, some by the greatest artists of their day, but this a rare record of a pupil’s journey through Eton.
