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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, February 16, 1839

Inventory Number: 76689
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 16, 1839, made as a fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches. It shows a very unusual colouring, the light areas a pale green and the darks greenish brown; but the chemistry is not noted. Compare 46392 of the same date.

Subject: engraving, landscape with barge and bridge
Technique: contact copy
Format: horizontal
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: clear but rather dark, unusual colour
Colour: unusual pale green and greenish brown, brown border, green back
Chemistry: presumably silver based, rest not known
Coating: none
Inscription: signature, date
Paper: thin
Condition: good
Purpose: probably a fixing experiment with some unusual agent.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'JFWH. Photogr. Feb. 16. 1839' [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
86 120 mm

Narratives

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