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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, February 26, 1839

Inventory Number: 33623
Object Type:
Persons: Sir John Frederick William Herschel (Photographer)
Date Created: 1839
Accession Number: 1928-71
Brief Description: Experimental photogenic drawing by Sir John Herschel, February 26, 1839, made as a fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches. Herschel has inspected it some weeks later and noted the image 'Not obliterated' (compare 31428).

Subject: engraving, man riding a long-horned bull
Technique: contact copy
Format: horizontal (inscription vertical)
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: very faint
Colour: pale sepia
Chemistry: silver based, fixed with potassium ferrocyanide
Coating: none
Inscription: date, chemical note, inspection note
Paper: thin, larger than usual
Condition: good
Purpose: a fixing experiment using potassium ferrocyanide.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'Feb 26 | very weak Ferroc Pot | Not obliterated April 11' [in Herschel's hand].
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
110 150 mm

Narratives

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