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Record Details

Photograph (Experimental Photogenic Drawing), by Sir John Herschel, April 19, 1839

Inventory Number: 88897
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, April 19, 1839, made as a fixing experiment during the earliest phase of his photographic researches. Parts of the sepia image have the appearance of retouching but they are not, though there is some in the border.

Subject: engraving, two boats or yachts
Technique: contact copy
Format: horizontal
Polarity: negative
Orientation: laterally reversed
Quality: barely discernible
Colour: pale sepia, pinkish-brown border
Chemistry: silver based, probably hypo fixed
Coating: some retouching and blobs in border
Inscription: date
Paper: thin
Condition: good
Purpose: a fixing experiment.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary see narratives.
Primary Inscriptions: 'April 19/39' [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
87 122 mm

Narratives

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