Steven Hawking's Tutor
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May 8th, 2008, 11:31 AM
Until recently, it was thought that the earliest photo ever taken was taken in 1826 by Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce which shows the roofs of a group of buildings in the French countryside and a tree in the distance.
But new evidence shows that the first photo was taken by the British way back in the.......1790s. The photo may have been taken by British pottery maker (Wedgwood pottery) Thomas Wedgwood, who died in 1805...
World's oldest photo revealed
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Metro
This photo of a leaf may have been taken by British pottery maker Thomas Wedgwood in the 1790s. If so, it would mean that the British, and not the French, took the world's first photograph
It may simply look like an unremarkable picture of a leaf, but an expert claims it is the world's oldest photograph.
The image is thought to be at least 200 years old and could even date to the 1790s.
It was made by putting a leaf on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to the Sun.
The picture was attributed to William Henry Fox Talbot, a British photography pioneer of the 1840s, when sold at auction in 1984. However, Dr Larry Schaaf – a Fox Talbot expert – says it has a 'W' written on it which may refer to Thomas Wedgwood.
A photo of a coachman taken by British photography pioneer William Fox Talbot in 1840 at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire where Talbot had his photographic studio - it is the earliest known photograph of a human being on paper. The photo of the leaf has always been attributed to Fox Talbot, but new evidence shows it may in fact have been taken by Thomas Wedgwood in the 1790s
He experimented with solar images in the 1790s – 30 years before Fox Talbot. 'This image is extraordinary,' said Dr Schaaf.
'It arrests our attention as much today as it has done for at least a century and a half, and possibly for more than two centuries.'
Sotheby's has postponed a sale of the picture, which was in a Bristol family's album until 1984, for more research to take place. The photograph currently regarded as the world's oldest was taken in France in 1826.
metro.co.uk
Until recently, it was thought that the earliest photo ever taken was taken in 1826 by Frenchman Nicéphore Niépce which shows the roofs of a group of buildings in the French countryside and a tree in the distance.
But new evidence shows that the first photo was taken by the British way back in the.......1790s. The photo may have been taken by British pottery maker (Wedgwood pottery) Thomas Wedgwood, who died in 1805...
World's oldest photo revealed
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The Metro
This photo of a leaf may have been taken by British pottery maker Thomas Wedgwood in the 1790s. If so, it would mean that the British, and not the French, took the world's first photograph
It may simply look like an unremarkable picture of a leaf, but an expert claims it is the world's oldest photograph.
The image is thought to be at least 200 years old and could even date to the 1790s.
It was made by putting a leaf on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to the Sun.
The picture was attributed to William Henry Fox Talbot, a British photography pioneer of the 1840s, when sold at auction in 1984. However, Dr Larry Schaaf – a Fox Talbot expert – says it has a 'W' written on it which may refer to Thomas Wedgwood.
A photo of a coachman taken by British photography pioneer William Fox Talbot in 1840 at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire where Talbot had his photographic studio - it is the earliest known photograph of a human being on paper. The photo of the leaf has always been attributed to Fox Talbot, but new evidence shows it may in fact have been taken by Thomas Wedgwood in the 1790s
He experimented with solar images in the 1790s – 30 years before Fox Talbot. 'This image is extraordinary,' said Dr Schaaf.
'It arrests our attention as much today as it has done for at least a century and a half, and possibly for more than two centuries.'
Sotheby's has postponed a sale of the picture, which was in a Bristol family's album until 1984, for more research to take place. The photograph currently regarded as the world's oldest was taken in France in 1826.
metro.co.uk
