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Record Details

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

Inventory Number: 71410
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 hypo fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches. One of five copies, all very pale, of an unusually dense engraving (25876, 42995, 68601, 99742).

Subject: engraving 29622, girl with lion
Technique: contact copy
Format: vertical
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: very poor
Colour: pale brown but mostly completely plain, pale sepia border
Chemistry: silver based, hypo fixed
Coating: none
Inscription: date, chemical note
Paper: thin, larger than usual
Condition: good
Purpose: a hypo fixing experiment, and test of copying a particularly dense engraving.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'Feb 26/39 HS So' [hyposulphite of soda; 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
161 123 mm

Narratives

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