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Record Details

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

Inventory Number: 53111
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 hypo fixing and translucency experiment. It has a double border, sometimes characteristic of positive printing experiments, though the borders are dark and the image is negative.

Subject: engraving 50435, landscape with two soldiers assailed by a nymph
Technique: contact copy (see above)
Format: horizontal
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: poor
Colour: yellowy amber and brown
Chemistry: silver based, presumably hypo fixed
Coating: oiled or varnished on back
Inscription: number
Paper: thin
Condition: bottom corners torn off, top corners damaged slightly
Purpose: a fixing and translucency experiment.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: '542'.
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
100 124 mm

Narratives

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