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Manuscript 'On the use of the Camera as a Photographic Instrument'
Manuscript 'On the use of the Camera as a Photographic Instrument' (verso)

Maker


1798-1863

Title

Manuscript 'On the use of the Camera as a Photographic Instrument'
Manuscript 'On the use of the Camera as a Photographic Instrument' (verso)

Date of Production

August 1848

Medium

Brown ink on pale blue/green wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 11.1 cm
Width: 16.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1954.AH.14.12

Mode of Acquisition

A.A.D. Harding, bequest, 1954

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Related Works

Sketchbook 14 - Italy; Notes on Photography; Wales

Notes

Harding's claim to "have myself introduced (April 1846) a very advantageous improvement by the addition of Bromide of Silver" as a coating for paper should be placed in the context of ongoing experiments with silver bromide in the early 1830s and 1840s by a number of scientists and artists. For example, in a letter of May 1840 from Robert Hunt to Sir John Herschel, Hunt says "I have produced somewhat similar pictures by acting on the Bromide of Silver by Hydrochloric Acid" (Royal Society Archive HS/10/86). Harding's experiments are therefore not pioneering, but nonetheless represent an example of early interest among artists in conducting experiments in photography.

Provenance

James Duffield Harding (1798-1863) and A.R. Harding; by descent to A.A.D. Harding; gift of A.A.D. Harding, 1954

Inscriptions

Inscription: Recto: beginning upper left and continuing for full page, brown ink: compound when its dormant energies are / aroused by Gallic acid - yet combined with / the chloride as recommended by Mr. Cudden it / becomes rather more sensitive. and I have / myself introduced (April 1846) a very advantageous / improvement by the addition of Bromide of / Silver. the addition of which salt renders the / paper sensitive to the green rays from trees / and verdure. My process for preparing the / paper is this - / Select the clearest, most even in texture / & unspotted sheets of Whatmans Archer satin [continues on next page]; lower right, graphite: 12. Verso: beginning lower left, brown ink: Preparing these for camera in a weaker / solution of nit.t silver is requisite as / otherwise they spoil immediately.

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