Fern Leaf
Artist
William Henry Fox Talbot
(English, 1800 - 1877)
CultureEnglish
Dateca. 1839
MediumCalotype
DimensionsOverall, Image (Left): 5 1/8 × 4 13/16 in. (13 × 12.2 cm)
Overall, Image (Right): 4 15/16 × 4 in. (12.5 × 10.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 14 3/8 × 19 in. (36.5 × 48.3 cm)
Overall, Mat: 15 15/16 in. (40.5 cm)
Overall, Image (Right): 4 15/16 × 4 in. (12.5 × 10.2 cm)
Overall, Support: 14 3/8 × 19 in. (36.5 × 48.3 cm)
Overall, Mat: 15 15/16 in. (40.5 cm)
Credit LinePurchase and Gift of Robert W. Lisle, M.D.
Object number91.90
Not on view
Label TextWilliam Henry Fox Talbot
English (1800-1877)
Fern Leaf, ca. 1839
Calotype, negative and positive
Purchase and Gift of Robert W. Lisle 91.90
William Henry Fox Talbot was the inventor of the negative/positive photographic process - the forerunner of modern conventional
photography. The first public display of his process took place on January 25, 1839.
Frustrated with his attempts at drawing with the camera lucida, Talbot began experimenting with the idea of preserving images made by a camera obscura. Talbot coated writing paper with a solution of common table salt and allowed it to dry. The dried paper was then brushed over with silver nitrate, forming a light sensitive coating of silver chloride. Talbot laid various objects, such as ferns, on the coated paper. When exposed to light the paper recorded a reversed facsimile, or negative, of the various configurations. After stabilization of the negative with a saturated solution of table salt, Talbot laid the paper with the reversed image on another sheet of sensitized paper and, after adequate exposure to the sun, produced a positive image.
By 1835 Talbot had adapted this paper negative/positive process for use in a camera obscura and was actually able to record scenes from nature. He called his process calotypy, Latin for "beautiful impression." Talbot patented his discovery in 1840 as the calotype process and in 1844 published The Pencil of Nature, the first book illustrated with actual photographic prints. In addition to Fern Leaf, The Chrysler Museum of Art possesses an 1845 architectural calotype by Talbot entitled The Minster from Lendal, made in York, England.
Edited By: GLYExhibition History"Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," October 25,1996 - March 2, 1997
Published ReferencesJeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 100, fig. 120. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
