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Record Details

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

Inventory Number: 46875
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 as a fixing experiment.

Subject: engraving, image barely discernible
Technique: contact copy
Format: inscription horizontal
Polarity: negative
Orientation: not apparent
Quality: barely discernible, darker border
Colour: pale fawn, brownish border, also some blue and yellow
Chemistry: silver based, fixed with water and potassium ferrocyanide
Coating: none
Inscription: chemical and procedural note
Paper: xxx
Condition: good
Purpose: a fixing experiment using potassium ferrocyanide.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: '1st water then very weak FCP to whiten' [ferrocyanate of potash; 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
90 124 mm

Narratives

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