High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Charles Allen Duval, often spelled duVal or Du Val, (19 March 1810 - 14 June 1872), was a well known Victorian portrait painter, photographer, literary critic, illustrator and writer. He played a large role within the city of Manchester’s thriving art scene, including the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, the Manchester City Art Gallery and the Art Treasures Exhibition, Manchester 1857: a scene which was underpinned by Manchester’s industrial entrepreneurs and politicians who all flocked to his studio to have their portraits painted.