History of Science Museum: Collection Database Search

Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, 1839

Inventory Number: 29757
Object Type:
Persons: Sir John Frederick William Herschel (Photographer)
Date Created:
Accession Number: 1928-71
Brief Description: Experimental photogenic drawing by Sir John Herschel, undated but 1839, made xxxxas a hypo fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researchesxx.

Subject: engraving 16938, landscape with figures on a patio
Technique: contact copy
Format: horizontal
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: very faint, but remains of fine detail at bottom
Colour: pink, brown border
Chemistry: silver based, probably hypo fixed
Coating: none
Inscription: none
Paper: thin
Condition: good
Purpose: presumably a fixing experiment.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions:
Provenance: Presented by Miss Herschel and Lady Lubbock in 1928. They were the two surviving and youngest children of Sir John Herschel (Francisca and Constance).
Collection Group: Herschel's Photographic Experiments
Material(s): Paper
Dimensions:
Height Width Depth Diameter Unit
91 120 mm

Narratives

Permalink: http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/object/inv/29757