Ebenezer and Peter Ross Calvert

Brothers Ebenezer and Peter Ross Calvert were successful photographers and painters in Nashville at the turn of the century. Both were born in Yorkshire, England, near Leeds, and studied art there before arriving in Nashville in the 1870s.

The Calvert brothers worked for several Nashville galleries before setting up their own studio in the old Cole Building, now the site of First American National Bank. They taught art and did oil and watercolor paintings, pastels, crayon drawings, and miniatures on ivory. Peter Ross was an accomplished miniature painter at a time when the specialty was enjoying a revival. In 1896 they went into partnership with Sam Taylor as Calvert Brothers and Taylor. The partnership was dissolved four years later, and the firm became Calvert Brothers. Both brothers continued to paint, but photography was their livelihood, with class photographs serving as their specialty.