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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, February 27, 1839

Inventory Number: 81920
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 27, 1839, made as a fixing and translucency experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches.

Subject: engraving, ?landscape, indistinct
Technique:
Format:
Polarity:
Orientation:
Quality: xxx, varnish and perhaps image show through back
Colour: yellowy (the varnish colour)
Chemistry: silver based, fixed with potassium ferrocyanide
Coating: varnished
Inscription: date, chemical and procedural note
Paper:
Condition:
Purpose: a fixing experiment using potassium ferrocyanide, also a translucency experiment.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'Feb. 27/39. FC Pot[?] v weak | 1 coat varnish' [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
83 120 mm

Narratives

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