View from the Window at Le Gras
Oldest surviving photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1827.
Last updated
The oldest surviving photograph was created by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in 1827.[1][2] It shows parts of the buildings and countryside of his estate as seen from a high window.[2] The image was captured on a pewter plate coated with bitumen of Judea.[3]
Quick Facts
- Creator
- Nicéphore Niépce
- Date created
- Between June 4 and July 18, 1827
- Medium
- Heliograph on pewter plate
- Dimensions
- 16.2 cm / 6.38 in × 20.2 cm / 7.95 in
- Location
- Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France
- Current home
- Harry Ransom Center
- Austin
- Texas
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
Sunlight striking opposite sides of buildings suggests an exposure of about eight hours, though a modern researcher found it must have continued for several days.[4] In September 1827, Niépce visited the United Kingdom and showed the photograph to botanical illustrator Francis Bauer.[5] In areas struck by bright light, the bitumen became hard; in dimmer areas it stayed soluble and was removed using a blend of lavender oil and white petroleum.[3] The exposure time needed was extremely long.[4]
Niépce wrote a paper for the Royal Society but refused to disclose specifics, leading to its rejection under a rule barring presentations of secret processes.[5] Niépce handed over his paper and the specimens to Bauer before he went back to France.[5] Niépce died from a stroke in 1833; after January 1839, when Daguerre and Talbot announced their processes, Bauer argued that Niépce deserved recognition as the first to create a permanent photographic process.[5][6]
What the cited sources add
The photograph passed through private hands in Britain before the Harry Ransom Center purchased it in 1963 as part of the Gernsheim Collection.[7] A letter from Niépce to his brother Claude on September 16, 1824, describes obtaining a view taken from his brother's room facing Le Gras.[8] The letter states the success of applying his processes to views is a demonstrated and indisputable fact.[8] The Harry Ransom Center states that the plate was placed into a camera obscura and set near a window in a second-story workroom.[7]
The Digital Journalist reports that in 1824 a view from a window was made on a metal plate coated with asphalt.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "First photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, ca. 1826", University of Texas at Austin (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harmant, "À propos de la plus ancienne photographie du monde", Photo-Ciné-Revue, May 1972, p. 231-237 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The First Photograph", Harry Ransom Center; "The First Photograph", Harry Ransom Center (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Niépce and the Invention of Photography", Nicephore Niepce House Photo Museum (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gernsheim, "The History Of Photography", Oxford University Press, 1969, p. 55-64 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "View from the Window at Le Gras" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lowry, Bates and Lowry, Isabel Barrett (1998). The Silver Canvas: Daguerreotype Masterpieces from the J. Paul Getty Museum. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angele (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "The First Photograph", Harry Ransom Center. facts only, no text reused. hrc.utexas.edu
- "Niépce and the Invention of Photography", Nicephore Niepce House Photo Museum. facts only, no text reused. photo-museum.org
- "100 Photographs that Changed the World", The Digital Journalist. facts only, no text reused. digitaljournalist.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article View from the Window at Le Gras (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: View from the Window at Le Gras (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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