Mortar Battery), circa 1877 In 1848 Szathmari took his first photograph, using the
talbotype process, of a cupid statue that had two broken arms. These connections allowed him access to the military camps of both sides at
Wallachia, of the battle that would become known as the
Crimean War. landscapes, fortifications and battlefields, where he photographed various troops, both Turkish and Russian, their equipment and their commanding officers. For his work presented at the exhibition, he received the second class medal. In February 1860, he was commissioned to produce a lithograph of a map of
Wallachia, based on the first detailed geographic survey of the area that had been done by
Austrians during the Crimean war. In 1863, Szathmari was given the title of
Ruling Prince’s Court Painter and Photographer by the Romanian ruler
Alexandru Ioan Cuza and of the first
King of Romania,
Carol I. In 2012, the
Cotroceni National Museum in Bucharest staged a retrospective exhibition of 400 of his paintings and photographs, in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. ==Collections==