Stanisław Filibert Fleury (1861-1915)

Artist and photographer; member of the Photographic Society of St. Petersburg, founded in 1898. Born on the small Popinės estate not far from Vilnius, Fleury studied at the Ivan Trutnev school of drawing from 1874-1878, and received a silver medal for his paintings at an exhibition held in 1898. Considered his best pupil, Fleury studied photography with photographer and artist A.Strauss. He began working in F.Lopatinski's photo atelier in 1884. After Lopatinski's death, Fleury and R.Baczianski took over as owners of the atelier; from 1892 it belonged to Fleury alone. He photographed views of Vilnius and its environs, architectural monuments and interiors, compiled series of photographs, drew, and illustrated books. Fleury's were the first photographs used to illustrate books published in Vilnius. In 1895 he presented photographs for an album on the architecture of Vilnius churches; in 1903 he illustrated a small book entitled Kalvarya pod Wilnem  by E.Jelenska, and in 1904 Vilnius Cathedral by V.Zahorski. An album of views of Vilnius and environs by Fleury was published in 1909. He introduced zincography to Vilnius, and in 1905 produced the first zincographic clichés in Lithuania.