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William Henry Fox Talbot
samples of lace (schaaf 4260), circa 1839
Photogenic Drawing, inscribed in pencil on the print with a cross indicating sensitised side, the paper watermarked 'J. Whatman Turkey Mill 1838',
227 by 180mm
Talbot's mother, Lady Elisabeth Feilding, sent her son samples of lace with which to make photogenic drawings in a letter dated May 23rd 1839. At a meeting of the British Association in August 1839, Talbot showed 'copies of Lace, of various patterns.' An image of a piece of lace featured as plate XX in The Pencil of Nature, published in Part 5, December 13th-22nd 1845. It was the only plate in the Pencil to be made without a negative, by direct exposure with the specimen of lace placed on the sensitised paper.
Provenance:
Charles Babbage, F.R.S.
Thence by descent.
Sotheby's Belgravia, London, July 1st 1977, lot 95.
This photogenic drawing is from a group of seven experimental images by Talbot dating to around 1839 and preserved by Charles Babbage, F.R.S., in a scrapbook.
Literature:
Larry Schaaf, The Pencil of Nature Anniversary Facsimile, Introductory Volume, Hans P. Kraus, Jr. Inc., New York, 1989, pp. 60-61.