The invention of photography

Discover how photography was born, through the astonishing work of early pioneers whose efforts are recorded in the Royal Society's archives.

Two specimens of fern leaf (c. 1840) by Caleb Burrell Rose (1790-1872)The Royal Society

Birth of a new artform

The invention of photography marked a pivotal moment in the history of science, art and industry. Delve into the Royal Society's archives and uncover how photography was born through experimentation with chemical processes, optics and art. 

River Seine at Bas Meudon near Sevres (1853) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

The invention

For centuries humankind has been aware that some materials are sensitive to light and capable of recording – but not retaining - a solar shadow, what we would now term a photographic print. The camera obscura, a device used to focus light onto a traceable surface, also has a long history. William Henry Fox Talbot FRS (1800-1877) realised that combining these two ideas might capture images, but first he had to make those images permanent. From 1834, he began to experiment. By soaking paper in salt solutions, he created negatives from which he could produce contact prints - what he termed photogenic drawings. In a series of improvements into the 1840s, Fox Talbot produced in-camera latent images, from which fixed positive paper prints – calotypes - could be made.

Some account of the art of photogenic drawing (1839) by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877)The Royal Society

The invention of photography was presented to the Royal Society by Sir Henry Fox Talbot in 1839.

This important paper highlights his experiments and invention.

'In the Spring of 1834 I put into practice a method which I had devised some time previously... By employing a property which has been long known to chemists.

'I proposed to spread on a sheet of paper a sufficient quantity of the nitrate of silver, and then to set the paper in the sunshine having first placed before it some object casting a well defined shadow.'

An Account of the Process employed in Photographic Drawing (1839) by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877)The Royal Society

Talbot's follow-up paper is titled 'An account of the processes employed in photogenic drawing'.

It describes in detail the chemical processing behind photogenic drawing.

'...the author selects in the first place paper of a good firm quality and smooth surface: and think that none answers better than the superfine writing paper.'

'He dips it into a weak solution of common salt and leaves it to dry, by which the salt is uniformly distributed throughout the substance.'

'He then spreads a solution of nitrate of silver on one surface only and dries it at the fire. The solution should not be saturated but six or eight times diluted with water.'

This simple chemical process was later enhanced by the use of paper soaked in solutions of silver nitrate and potassium iodide, then developed out using a chemical cocktail including gallic acid, to enhance a latent image. Once fixed, the negative could produce multiple positives very effectively, using the earlier salted paper technique.

Cyanotype print (1840) by John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871)The Royal Society

New discoveries

The pioneering work of Henry Fox Talbot was the inspiration for the experiments of other scientists. They stretched the variety of chemicals and processes involved in photography.

Portrait of Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1843) by Christian Albrecht Jensen (1792-1870)The Royal Society

Sir John Herschel (1792-1871) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and a renowned astronomer and physicist, with a passion for light.

He became a key partner in Talbot’s development of photography.

Talbot struggled with stabilising his photographic images. John Herschel realised that the required fixing agent was sodium thiosulphate, or Hypo (hyposulphite of soda). In many respects, Herschel was the co-inventor of photography.

He also popularised the term photography, from the Greek words photo (light) and graph (draw).

Cyanotype print (1840) by John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871)The Royal Society

John Herschel invented several other photographic processes notable for their beautiful colouring. The deep Prussian blue created by the reaction of ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide gave rise to the term blueprint.


He called the outcome a cyanotype. Variations of the process were throughout the early twentieth century for copying architectural plans and engineering drawings.

Spectrum of cyanotype (1840) by John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871)The Royal Society

The calotype, or talbotype, became the basis of modern photography.

Chrysotype prints (1840) by John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871)The Royal Society

John Herschel also invented the chrysotype, using salts of gold and iron. Here, by applying oil to engraved prints, Herschel rendered the original paper translucent, and could capture a contact print on sensitized paper.

The process created a 'purple of Cassius' colour.

Diagram of chemical processes by John Frederick Goddard (1795-1866)The Royal Society

John Frederick Goddard (1795-1866) was an English chemist, whose experiments attempted to improve upon the unique plate process invented by Louis Daguerre (1787-1851). Daguerre too had experimented with the idea of latent image, but his stunning photographic plates, often used for portraiture, could not produce multiple copy images.

Goddard’s experiments were an attempt to do just that, by printing something ‘effective, simple and practicable for artists’ from daguerreotypes.

Portrait of Mr Johnson by John Frederick Goddard (1795-1866)The Royal Society

Goddard's focus on attending to artistic sensibility was mirrored by other scientists, for example Henry Fox Talbot who believed that every man should be his own publisher.

Portrait of John Frederick Goddard's father by John Frederick Goddard (1795-1866)The Royal Society

In his notes, Goddard states that the outcome appears as if ‘printed from the ordinary process of copper plate printing’.

Forest scene with musical instruments (1859) by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901)The Royal Society

Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901) was a French marine biologist whose photography work combined ancient dyes with modern technology.

This note says 'Photography executed with the purple pigment of Murex Erinacens [a mollusc] (La Rochelle).'

Woman with a flower (1859) by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901)The Royal Society

The photograph illustrates an article entitled ‘Natural History of Ancient Purple’. He used this old dye on a silk material and exposed the image, which turned the colour of the dye a brighter Tyrian purple.

Diagram of Mollusc (1860) by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821-1901)The Royal Society

This diagram shows a dissection of the mollusc from the Mediterranean sea and the gland which the pigment is secreted from.

The dye was an ancient treasure and only used on robes of emperors.

Two specimens of fern leaf (c. 1840) by Caleb Burrell Rose (1790-1872)The Royal Society

This is a photogenic drawing of two plant specimens.

Leaves are placed on sensitised paper and exposed to sunlight. This is an early use of the process developed by Fox Talbot. This image belonged to the naturalist and geologist Caleb Burrell Rose (1790-1872), who practised as a surgeon in Swaffham, Norfolk. The photographer is unknown.

Tree study and sunny glade (c 1853) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Drawing with light

The Royal Society also holds early artistic photography both from Sir John Herschel’s own collection and from other acquisitions. The work of Anna Atkins (1799-1871), Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879), Henri Victor Regnault FRS (1810-1878) and many others mark photography as the nineteenth century’s first completely new art form. 

Ptilota plumosa - Cyanotype print from British Algae (1843) by Anna Atkins, nee Children (1799-1871)The Royal Society

These beautiful blue botanical drawings are by Anna Atkins.

Her serial publication Photographs of British algae: cyanotype impressions (1843-1853) used John Herschel's cyanotype process to create the world’s first photographically produced book. Her father, John George Children FRS (1777-1852) had been present when Henry Fox Talbot read his original paper on photogenic drawing to the Royal Society.

Cystoseira Granulata - Cyanotype print from British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) by Anna Atkins, nee Children (1799-1871)The Royal Society

The prussian blue harmonises with the subject matter of marine botany.

Sargassum Vulgare - Cyanotype print from British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) by Anna Atkins, nee Children (1799-1871)The Royal Society

For Atkins it was clear that this book was positioned between art and science.

Cystoseira Ericoides - Cyanotype print from British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) by Anna Atkins, nee Children (1799-1871)The Royal Society

Specimens might be identified using the work, but it had aesthetic qualities too.

Photograph of Rio Agri, Italy following an earthquake. Riverbed, stone bridge, distant houses and mountains. (1857/1858) by Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889), attributed toThe Royal Society

These photographs were collected by Robert Mallet FRS (1810-1881) on his expedition to the region of Naples in 1857 to document the aftermath of a major earthquake. They are as much landscape photography as being part of a scientific record.

The photographs are attributed to the French photographer Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889) or "Grellier" [possibly J. Grillet]

Stereograph depicting earthquake damage in Tito, Italy (1857/1858) by Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889), attributed toThe Royal Society

Photograph of Porte Cochere near Auletta, Italy showing earthquake damage (1857/1858) by Alphonse Bernoud (1820-1889), attributed toThe Royal Society

Portrait of Charles Darwin (1868) by Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)The Royal Society

This portrait of Charles Darwin FRS (1809-1882) was taken by Julia Margaret Cameron. Darwin rented a cottage on the Isle of Wight from the Camerons in the summer of 1868.

Charles Darwin sat for this photographic portrait in 1868. Much like a traditional portrait painting it attempts to represent not only surface appearance, but also personal attributes such as wisdom and knowledge.

The photographer Julia Margaret Cameron has signed the portrait here.

'I like this photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me'

- Charles Darwin

Julia Margaret Cameron (1874) by Henry Herschel Hay CameronThe J. Paul Getty Museum

Cameron was born in Calcutta in 1815. She obtained her first camera at the age of 48, as a gift, and began to create stunning work.

Her photography mainly consists of tableaux, including historical, religious and mythical portraits. She is particularly remembered for her experimentation with the medium, and leaving bare the traces of the artist’s process which is influential on art photography today.

Wooded landscape near Sevres (1850) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Henry Victor Regnault FRS was an important scientist, a friend of Sir John Herschel, and one of the great early French art photographers, taking up the new medium almost immediately.

Following his appointment to take charge of the Sèvres porcelain works in 1852, he became a landscape photographer of note, but rarely exhibited his own work. Nevertheless, Regnault became the first President of the Society of French Photography in 1854, championing photography, what he termed ‘this fatal passion’.

River Seine at Bas Meudon near Sevres (1853) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Tree study and sunny glade (c 1853) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Thatched barn (1853) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Still life with a ladder (c 1850) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Peterborough Cathedral (1853-07) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Old oak tree at St Laurence's Church (1916) by Henri Victor Regnault (1810-1878)The Royal Society

Cystoseira Granulata - Cyanotype print from British Algae by Anna Atkins (1843) by Anna Atkins, nee Children (1799-1871)The Royal Society

Conclusion

This story is mainly about a discovery that was initially considered a scientific marvel. There would be many uses for photography as a recording and technical medium. But the new invention would have a huge impact on people all over the world – for making portraits of loved ones, for creating records of places and times past and for recording news events. Photographs became a widely circulated mass-produced medium, available to all. Photography transformed the way we look at the world, at nature and at ourselves.

Credits: Story

All rights reserved © The Royal Society 2019

Curator: Katherine Jukes

For more information about the Royal Society Library and Archive please visit our website: https://royalsociety.org/collections

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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