1928 Francesco Horvat is born in Abbazia, Italy (present-day Opatija, Croatia) on 28 April, to Jewish parents of Central European origin.

1938 Racial laws targeting Jews are imposed in Italy.

1939 Horvat’s father flees to Hungary where he survives the war thanks to false papers. His mother escapes to Switzerland with their two children.

1939–45 Attends middle school and then the local high school in Lugano. Swaps his stamp collection for a 35 mm Retinamat camera.

1945 Goes to Zurich.

1947 Enrols at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan but soon gives up his studies.

1948 Joins a small advertising agency where he is entrusted with commercial work and then some photographs. Acquires a Rolleicord 6 x 6.

1949 Visits his father, who has emigrated to Israel. First reportage work.

1951 First publication of his work, in black and white and in colour, in the Milanese magazine Epoca, under the name of Franco Horvat. In Paris, he meets Henri Cartier-Bresson, who advises him to buy a Leica and to go the Louvre to look at paintings by Poussin. Reportage on the Charlie de Beistegui Ball in Venice for the magazine Point de Vue-Images du Monde and first commission for the Swiss magazine Die Woche.

1952–54 Travels to Pakistan and then India, sending photographs to Die Woche and several press agencies in Paris, Munich, London and New York. His work features numerous times in Sie und Er, Die Woche, Paris-Match, Picture Post, Münchner Illustrierte, L’Illustré, Life, Jubilee, L’illustrazione italiana, Frankfurter Illustrierte, Le Ore, The Sphere.

1954 After travelling through Israel and Jordan, leaves for London, under contract with the American agency Black Star. Adopts the name Frank Horvat.

1955 An image he took in Pakistan is included in the exhibition The Family of Man at MoMA, New York. Photo essays published in Collier’s, VI, Hören und Sehen, Der Spiegel, Revue, Illustrated, Zondagsvriend, Esquire, Life. Settles in Paris.

1956 Birth of three children with Maria Teresa (Mate) Lorenzetti: Michel (1956), Lorenzo (1957) and Marco (1961). Reportages on prostitution and striptease. First commissions for the magazine Réalités. Shoots many images of Paris using a telephoto lens.

1957 His Paris pictures are published in the international magazine Camera and exhibited at the first Photography Biennale in Venice. Beginning of a collaboration with Jacques Moutin, art director of Jardin des Modes,
who grants him recognition for his fashion photographs shot with the Leica.

1958 Begins a collaboration with Jours de France and Elle.

1959 His work is published in Elle, Jardin des modes, Magnum and Jours de France. Shoots photo stories on Paris, the suburbs, London and the Borinage region of Belgium for Réalités.

1960 First collaboration with Vogue UK, which brings him international fame in fashion circles. Becomes a Magnum associate.

1961–62 Leaves Magnum. Collaborations with Glamour and Harper’s Bazaar.

1962–63 Photo essay on twelve great cities of the world for the German magazine Revue.

1967 Separates from Mate Lorenzetti. Birth of a son, David, with the model Marie-Louise Pierson.

1970 Acquires an isolated house in the Haut- Var region which he names La Véronique, like his partner Véronique Aubry.

1976 Travels around the world shooting portraits of trees, his first project in colour in collaboration with Michel Fresson.

1979 Birth of a daughter, Sarah Fiammetta, with Alexandra de Leal.

1982 Begins the series Very Similar and New York Up & Down. Buys a computer.

1983 Start of a collaboration with the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung weekly supplement.

1986–87 Entre Vues project: interviews other photographers and starts his own personal collection of photographs.

1987 Finishes building his studio in Boulogne- Billancourt.

1989–90 Works with digital images and Photoshop, on projects including Bestiary.

1992 Joins the editorial board of the magazine Photographers International, Taiwan, founded by Nathalie Juan and Juan I-Jong.

1999 Creates a daily photo diary to commemorate the end of the millennium, 1999.

2003 Begins the ‘La Véronique’ project, following a period of convalescence in the Var region.

2007 Begins the ‘Eye at the Fingertips’ project, which he pursues until the end of his life.

2012 Creates his own iPad app,‘Horvatland’.

2009–20 Self-publishes his collection of ‘white books’ (Only For Few collection).

2020 Dies on 21 October.