This is the longest text I've ever posted as DagNews. It is, however, a
tremendous text describing both the history of the discovery as well as
the present "state of the art"; it is well worth the time required to
read it. In its original presentation, the article occupies nearly the
full page in four columns of very small type. While the text includes a
few details that we now know to be in error, the article does represent
one of the better contemporary sources of information.
I am happy to make it available to you, in its entirety, for the
first time since its original publication. I've also made it available
as a Word document at:
http://www.ieway.com/~gary/tribune.html
If you do not have web access, but would like to receive the article as
a Word document, drop me a note and I'll send it to you as an email
attachment.
The text will also soon be available in HTML format on The Daguerreian
Society web site.
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On this day (April 23) in the year 1853, the following article appeared
in "The New-York Weekly Tribune" Vol. XII, No. 606 (Saturday, April 23,
1853; page 7):
PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES.
HISTORY OF THE INVENTION.
The art of Photography--more popularly known as Daguerreotyping--is
brought to so great a perfection in this country, and prosecuted on a
scale of such magnitude, and the different manufactures connected with
it are of such importance, especially in this City, that we propose
giving a few details respecting them, and also a sketch of the origin
and progress of this important discovery.
Several designations distinguish this new art--it was originally
called Photography, or writing by light; afterward, the art of
Photogenic drawing, or drawing produced or occasioned by light; then
Heliography, or writing by the sun--the latter term being that used by
the experimenter who first succeeded in fixing the delineations of
pictures produced by light--Mons. Daguerre, whose name has originated
another and the most general title by which the art is known--
Daguerreotyping--a compliment to the discoverer which will hand his name
down to the latest posterity.
Although it was not until the year 1839, that Daguerre first succeeded
in making a picture by the aid of the sunlight, upon a plate chemically
prepared, still the idea that such an effect could be produced had been
entertained as far back as early in the commencement of the Eighteenth
Century; and memoirs on the influence of light in the crystalization of
salts were published, by Petit in 1722, by Chaptal in 1788, and by Dize
in 1789. These and similar researches led to the experiments of Mr.
Wedgwood, the porcelain manufacturer of Staffordshire, England, who, in
1803, laid before the Royal Institution of London a memoir, entitled "An
Account of a Method of Copying Paintings upon Glass, and of Making
Profiles by the Agency of Light upon Nitrate of Silver; with
Observations by Sir Humphrey Davy." A solution of nitrate of silver,
spread on white paper or leather, was the photographic material
employed; but the experiments eventually failed, owing solely to the
want of those chemical agencies which were afterwards employed as the
fixing materials. Bromine, Iodine, and Hyposulphite of Soda, were not
then discovered, and, without them, Photography would still have
remained where Wedgwood left it.
No further investigations appear to have been made until 1814, when M.
Niepce, of Chalons-sur-Saone, turned his attention to the chemical
agency of light, his object being "to fix the images of the camera-
obscura;" and he discovered that by spreading bitumen on a glass or
metal plate, and placing this in the camera, a dormant image was
impressed on the plate in five or six hours.
In 1824 Daguerre commenced his researches, employing, like Wedgwood,
nitrate and chloride of silver, and in 1826, he and Niepce, becoming
acquainted, pursued their inquiries together. In 1829, Niepce, in a
letter to Daguerre, says:
"The discovery which I have made consists in producing spontaneously,
by the action of the light, with gradations of tint, from black to
white, the images received by the camera-obscura."
But previous to this, in 1827, Niepce had exhibited engravings, copied
by means of photography, many of which are still in existence,
presenting the appearance of advanced sketches, produced by means of a
graver, and proving that he had already solved the problem, which had
defeated all his predecessors, of making his copy insensible to the
subsequent and blackening rays of the sun.
In 1839, Niepce and Daguerre entered into a deed of partnership, in
which document the several portions of the discovery are accorded to the
respective parties to the contract, and it contains the remarkable
assertion that the experiments of the latter had elicited a process
which reproduced images with sixty or eight times the force of the
previous mode. It is necessary to observe the words of the contract--
"for the photographic copying of engravings,"--for not only did he fail
in producing likenesses of living objects, (for, as well be presently
shown, the first successful attempt in that sphere was made in this
State,) but he was unsuccessful in his attempts at producing copies from
nature. In a landscape, for instance, a part of the picture was boldly
portrayed while another portion would be poor and inefficient, and there
would be between gaps entirely destroying the effect of the whole.
Daguerre at length conceived a method which he called Niepce's plan
completed, but, though an improvement, it was still far from efficient.
Through a long course of observation, however, he at length saw the
reason of his repeated failures, and by great perseverance and ingenuity
finally so far overcame them as to bring his discovery to a practical
state. Niepce died in 1833, and his interest in the invention devolved
to his son; but it was not until 1839 that Daguerre had perfected his
process. He then submitted it to the French Government, with a view to
obtaining a compensation to enable him to make the result of his long
labors public; and from a report made to the Chamber of Deputies, by the
celebrated Arago, it appeared that the Commission of Inquiry were
convinced of its capability to effect what its inventor claimed. A
resolution was ultimately passed granting to Daguerre a pension of 6,000
francs ($1,200), and to Niepce, Jr., 4,000 fr. ($800) annually, but the
former sum was finally increased to $10,000 fr. ($2,000.)
But previous to the grant by the French Government, which also
purchased the secret of Daguerre's process, in their own words, "for the
glory of endowing the world of science and of art with one of the most
surprising discoveries that honor their native land," Mr. Fox Talbot, of
London, published "Some Account of the Art of Photogenic Drawing," and
still holds a contested claim, together with Mr. Wattles, of the United
States, to a priority of the Invention over Daguerre; but if Talbot be
indeed entitled to the credit of an inventor of this beautiful art, the
productions of Daguerre evince so much more perfection, that the palm of
superiority must be conceded to the latter. The English invention is
known by the name of the Calotype or Talbotype process, and differs from
all others by the employment of paper instead of metal plates; but
though many believe that, on account of its greater cheapness, it will
finally supersede Daguerre's process, we doubt whether such will be the
case. The following in the contrary opinion of an eminent authority on
the subject:
"As perfectly as the manipulators of the Talbotype profess to
delineate an image on paper, they do not succeed so well as to preclude
the necessity of retouching various parts of the picture with the
pencil. All their art and care are incompetent to produce those well-
defined, truthful and exquisite lines brought out by the Daguerreotype
process; while the more rapid manipulation and greater economy of the
latter will always cause it to be preferred."
Mr. Talbot also is the original introducer of the process substituting
unglazed porcelain for paper. The latest discovery in this art is
called the Crystalotype, invented by Mr. Whipple, of Boston. It is a
method of taking scenes or likenesses upon glass and paper, so that with
one picture thousands of copies may be made. Its rapidity and cheapness
will no doubt make it a popular method of illustration for books; it,
however, still needs to be greatly improved, especially in its
representations of natural objects, as houses, trees and landscapes. It
makes everything appear flat, and its landscapes are without an
atmosphere.
THE STEREOSCOPE.
But one of the most wonderful of all the discoveries connected with
the Daguerrian art, is the Stereoscope, a name signifying the power to
show pictures of natural objects, under the form of solids, precisely as
they themselves appear standing out in isolated relief. It was invented
by Professor Wheatstone, of London, one of the claimants of the
discovery of the magnetic telegraph, but who, nevertheless, regards the
Stereoscope as his best title to fame. By some means, however, its
merits, if appreciated by a few, were overlooked by the public, and it
was not until recently that a Stereoscope introduced by Sir David
Brewster received that attention which its predecessors had failed to
procure. The following translation of a description by a French savan
will clearly suggest its peculiar action:
"You take two designs or pictures of an object taken turn by turn,
with the right eye and the left, then adjust them side by side,
perpendicularly before your eyes at the bottom of a little box, the
image on the right being seen by the right eye, and that on the left by
the left eye; between each eye and image you interpose a prism at such
an angle or inclination as will force the two images from the right and
left toward the center. If you have correctly adjusted the angle of the
two prisms, as also the distance from your eyes to the images, all the
corresponding points of the two images will be seen so magically blended
and commingled as to form one identical image, the looking at which
produces at first a very singular physical sensation in the eyes, which
very soon passes away, and you behold there the one image in the most
perfect isolated relief, with all its advancing and retreating parts, as
perfect as if the real object, without any intervening medium, was
standing there before you. To describe the magical and captivating
effect of this spontaneous transformation of two images into one solid
image and of three times the size, length, breadth and depth, would be a
thing impossible. The effects of the stereoscope are not confined to
the representation of geometrical objects, such as pyramids, cones, &c.
If in this marvelous apparatus, we look at two drawings of a bas-relief,
a statue, or two portraits of a living person, or two views of a
landscape, they will appear just as they are in nature. We see the
eyes, the lips, the nose, in short, all the striking features of the
face and all the projecting parts of the body, coming forward clearly
from the background with all their relative proportions. The illusion
is complete, and we see the person depicted standing there identically
before us. It is known that pictures of natural objects are reproduced
on the plates of Daguerre, the paper of Talbot, and the albuminated
glass of Niepce de Saint Victor, with the same absolute exactitude that
their fleeting images are pictured on the retina of the eye. When,
therefore, we wish to obtain the image of a bas-relief, a statue, a
landscape, or a living person, for the stereoscope, we have only to
arrange before the object a binocular camera--that is, a camera
furnished with object glasses of the same diameter and focal distance,
and two plates of albuminated glass. This camera looks for us, and sees
the object placed before it. Like a complaisant artist, it paints for us
the two images with superhuman skill and perfection, and we thus obtain
with ease and facility everything essential for the stereoscope.
Photography, which was before only a designer of beautiful pictures in
gray tint, with the incomparable pencil which the stereoscope lends to
her, has now become transformed into a superhuman painter and sculptor,
armed with a pencil which would have driven Raphael and Michael Angelo
to despair. Photography, thus completed, and crowned by the
stereoscope, is so vastly improved that the day must soon come when
nearly all important photographic pictures of landscape, monuments,
portraits, &c., will be produced double, that is, by couples, in order
to their stereoscopic reproduction, in all the exact truth of living
nature."
Notwithstanding this highly eulogistic description of the stereoscope,
an investigation will satisfy the reader that it fully merits all the
praise bestowed on it excepting only with regard to portraits.
Stereoscopic portraits are frightful, giving the individual the air of a
corpse petrified and painted the color of life. But for objects of
still-life, nothing could be more charming. Still, though so
universally admired, the stereoscope meets with an unaccountable neglect
on the part of the public, though this may be to some extent in
consequence of the greater expense of pictures made by this process.
COLORED DAGUERREOTYPES.
But there is yet another difficulty to be overcome, which has hitherto
baffled all the researches of the most untiring philosophers of this
Continent and Europe, and one which, when perfected, will add tenfold
value and beauty to the art of Photography. We allude to the
transferring of the natural colors of the subject to be taken--whether
animate or lifeless. It was fondly hoped, a few months since, that the
United States would have had the honor of owning the discovery of this
grand object as one of her citizens, in the person of Rev. Levi L. Hill,
of Westkill, Greene Co., New-York; and in consequence of his
representations a Committee of the Daguerrean trade in this City is said
to have waited on him with a guarantee of $100,000 to make his secret
public. The offer was rejected, since which very free opinions as to
the reality of the discovery having been made at all have been
unceremoniously resorted to both in conversation and in that portion of
the public prints more immediately interested in establishing the truth
or falsity of Mr. Hill's claim. It does not come within our present
purpose to give an opinion, nor, indeed, are we sufficiently well
informed on the matter. On the one hand it is stated that a large sum
has been offered to the discoverer by responsible men, more than
sufficient, exclusive of moneys that have been subscribed for publishing
his works, with the avowed purpose of assisting him pecuniarily to
prosecute his labors; and on the other, it is urged that the
certificates of highly intelligent and upright men--among others, that
of Professor Morse--are sufficient guarantees of the existence of the
discovery. We also learn that Mr. Hill has, within a few weeks,
exhibited his invention to a Committee of the United States Senate, with
the view of obtaining a special patent, and that the report is favorable
to his claims, though he acknowledges his discovery has not been
perfected in its practical details. In their own words:
"The Committee have formed the opinion that the specimens exhibited to
them have afforded sufficient proofs that the inventor has solved the
problem of photographic colorature. The Committee had in their hands
the plates, unprotected by glass or any other covering, and saw them
freely rubbed and otherwise tested, confirming in their minds the fact
of the invention and the durability of the pictures."
We devoutly hope that the committee may not prove to be mistaken, for
such a discovery would be another great American triumph in Daguerrean
art, superior even to that of the application of the science to the
delineation of the human countenance, which Daguerre failed in
accomplishing, but in which Morse, Draper, Chilton and other have
succeeded--a fact acknowledged with pleasure by Daguerre himself.
It certainly is very desirable to establish an early claim to the
discovery of photographic coloring, as many scientific men in Europe
are, it is well known, engaged in the pursuit of the same object;
indeed, a method of transferring colors by the aid of sun-light has
already been discovered by a Frenchman, though he has not yet succeeded
in fixing them permanently--exposure to the light causing them to vanish
in a few days. Mr. James Campbell, of Dayton, Ohio, has also been
experimenting with the same object; and though not attended with full
success, his researches have led to the development of many properties
in various chemicals, under certain conditions, which they were not
before known to possess; and the additional knowledge thus contributed
will doubtless conduce to the more rapid discovery of the great aim in
view. It will be remembered that we gave a lengthened description of
this gentleman's experiments in The Tribune of the 4th of March last.
THE MOON DAGUERREOTYPED.
But, great as are the claims of Photography in our notice, from the
unswerving minuteness with which it acts, it has still more exalted
demands on our attention from its utility in advancing the cause of
knowledge in its most sublime and difficult paths. Those whose
admiration of the art has terminated with the expression of joy and
surprise at the wonderful fidelity of the portrait of some cherished
friend, are probably unprepared to learn that the cause of astronomy has
been advanced by the agency of the same simple means. Yet such is the
fact, as the following translation from a foreign paper will show:
"Dr. Bond, of Harvard University, thought that although it were
impossible to render the moon,--so pale and distant--more luminous, he
could make the feeble light she possess useful for photography, if he
could make a gigantic camera-obscura of the magnificent telescope which
he had at his disposal. The object-glass of the telescope is 15 inches
in diameter, and the image of an object formed at its focus is 25 times
more brilliant than the image of the same object reproduced by a lens of
three inches. Mr. Bond placed a plate of iodised silver in the dark
tube of the telescope, so that the sensible surface of this plate
corresponded to the focus of the great achromatic object-glass, and he
caused the telescope, thus prepared, to follow the movement of the moon
in space, by means of one of those ingenious mechanisms that are
employed for this effect in observatories. The result was a veritable
triumph. Three excellent proofs, reproducing the least details of the
moon, were presented at the last meeting of the English Association for
the progress of science. The most interesting is a sort of portrait of
the moon in profile, if we can say so, of the dimension nearly of half a
dollar piece. This position of the moon was chosen, because the
elongated shadows that project from the inequalities of the surface, are
seen most advantageously. When we look at the lunar atmosphere, half in
light and half in shade, the sun shines on it in a transverse direction
to that in which we are looking. For example, when we have this
hemisphere face to face, the sun strikes it from right to left, and the
shadows are spread out in all their extent before our eyes, and how
marvelous are these shadows observed with a telescope in certain
circumstances! Fringes of darkness casting themselves off behind the
peaks and summits of silver, rounded waves of shadow, filling up
cavities in the form of hollow cups as abysses in the midst of this
strange surface; triangles of jet, shooting forth like twigs from under
luminous spots, brilliant as diamonds--this is what the telescope
displayed. In the photographic image produced by Dr. Bond, all these
details are revealed to the eye. Everything there is so completely and
so faithfully reproduced, that by the aid of a magnifying glass we
perceive new object, minute details, that had escaped the sight. The
revelations of the microscope in this proof are as strange and numerous
as the revelations of the telescope in the moon itself. It is probably
that when the most sensible photogenic surfaces have been found, and we
can employ object glasses as large as the great reflector of Harvard
University, some proof representing groups of stars can be obtained.
Dr. Bond had already succeeded in producing, even on a plate of iodised
silver, a distinct image of the two constituents of the star Ester. It
is impossible to calculate the services that photography is called to
render to astronomy. Photographic charts of the stars, frequently
renewed, would certainly give to astronomers the means of discovering
all the bodies wandering in space and yet unknown; and we do not doubt
that the number of them may be considerable, and worthy of serious
attention, when we remember that the number of the planets has grown
from 4 to 30 in the space of six years."
Our space forbids our enumerating many other of the appliances of this
art which suggest themselves--but the one quoted will, of itself,
suffice to show that the use to which it is most generally devoted is by
no means the sole or the most valuable for which it offers itself. And
though it is brought in this City to so great perfection, its admirers
believe that its resources and uses are but very imperfectly developed--
that it may be looked upon, indeed, as in its infancy!
THE DAGUERREAN GALLERIES OF NEW-YORK.
The Daguerrean Galleries of the City are among the primary objects of
interest to visitors, and the collections here presented are
incomparably superior to any to be found in a European Metropolis,
without exception. Many of them, too, are adorned with portraits of the
most eminent of our citizens, statesmen, jurists, soldiers physicians,
and men of letters, whilst in others, fac-similes of well-known scenes
are to be found. Among so many first-rate artists as are established in
this City, it would be invidious to mention one or two to the exclusion
of the rest--it will, therefore, suffice to say, that at the Great
Exhibition of 1851, three medals of the first class were awarded to as
many American competitors, whose superiority in that friendly struggle
was incontestable in this department. Indeed, with the exception of
Claudet, whose valuable discoveries more than his artistic excellence
procured him the award of a Council Medal, our artists were not only
superior, but on the whole, unapproachable, whether from the competition
of English, French or German. The reason of this may be found in the
greater cheapness of Daguerreotype pictures here over those of Europe,
caused equally by the more universal demand in this country, and by the
profession, there being held in check by vexatious and costly patents,
(which, we think, ought never to have been granted, the original idea
having been purchased for the world by the French Government) which
confine it within a limited circle of practitioners, and those, in all
probability, less lovers of the art than follower of it as a means of
livelihood, while here the number employed, and their constant practice,
cause an improvement, either in the manipulation, or in some chemical
process, to be of frequent occurrence. We may say, in a word, that in
Europe there are more learned works written, and here the best pictures
made; there they speculate and experiment, while we work; they are
unrivaled in theory, we at the highest present point of the art in
practice; though we freely admit that the rapid improvement made has
been much aided by the chemical experiments of European philosophers.
Few visitors to these Galleries have any idea of the importance of the
trades and manufactures connected with the Photographic art--a few
statistics will probably be found interesting.
In the cities of New-York and Brooklyn, there are upward of 100
Daguerrean establishments, giving direct employment to about 250 men,
women and boys, though the number who derive support from the art in the
United States, in all its branches, is variously estimated at from
13,000 to 17,080, including those working in the manufactories. For
some years a great proportion of Daguerreotype goods were imported from
Europe, principally from France; those made here being considered by
operators as much inferior, especially the plates. A great improvement
has, however, of late taken place in our production of these articles,
and it will be seen by the number of persons employed, as given above,
that this is now quite an important branch of domestic industry, there
being in this City alone six large establishments for the making,
importation and sale of Photographic goods, the amount of cash invested
being about $300,00, and the annual sale of materials, $1,000,000.
It is estimated that there cannot be less than 3,000,000
daguerreotypes taken annually in the United States; Boston, Philadelphia
and Baltimore being extensively engaged in the trade, but not equally
with New-York.
The interests of the science are represented in the Press by two
publications--The Photographic Art Journal (monthly) and Humphrey's
Journal, (semi-monthly,) having a joint circulation of 5,000 copies. We
learn that the editor of the former (Mr. Snelling) has in press, A
Dictionary of the Photographic Art, containing every kind of information
at all bearing on the subject in his editorial capacity, we are certain
that the book will be invaluable to every member of the profession, as
well as to those who may desire more detailed information than our
limits enable us to give.
While on the Continent the price of a daguerreotype portrait prohibits
its possession, except among the wealthier classes, the cost in this
country ranges so as to suit the pockets of the most humble, there being
an establishment in New York professing to produce likenesses as low as
25 cents a piece, while as much as fifty dollars, or even more are
willingly given in other instances for a single portrait. Of course, in
the latter case, the highest artistic excellence is arrived at, and a
considerable portion of the expense is entailed by the handsome frame in
which the picture is placed.
The method adopted at the present day to procure a photographic
picture, differs materially from that of Daguerre's: many improvements,
both in the camera and the chemical combinations having been introduced.
Daguerre originally employed a single lens; our principal operators use
the achromatic lens, one of which is of a magnitude till lately
unattainable by the best opticians. By a camera made by Harrison, the
operator is enabled to take a portrait nearly life-size, on plates 14 by
17 inches, the lens alone being 6 1/2 inches in diameter; the cost of
the apparatus was $400. We are told this is the largest perfect lens
ever made; yet the manufacturer expects shortly to produce another,
which well be 9 1/2 inches in diameter. The opticians of Munich, though
renowned for their skill, have never yet succeeded in making a lens
without flaw, of the size at present in use here. The price of a
camera, of the kind in ordinary use, varies with its quality; some being
sold as low as $15, and ranging up to $150. The process of procuring
portraits varies in some slight respects in different establishments,
but we believe the following is the method adopted by our best
operators: a plate, composed of copper and silver, in the proportion of
one sixteenth of the latter and the remainder of the former, the silver
being on the surface, is brought to a high state of polish by the use of
rottenstone, rouge, &c. It is then galvanized, thus receiving a fine
coat of pure galvanic silver, when it is repolished, and then submitted
to a primary coating of the fumes of dry iodine, and also of bromine or
other accelerating compound. Having been carefully shielded from the
light, it is then placed in a camera of achromatic lens, through which
the reflected rays of the sun upon the sitter are transferred to the
plate, when chrystalisation takes place. No impression, however, will
be visible until the plate be submitted to the heated fumes of mercury,
when the picture stands boldly forth, a Daguerreotype being nothing more
than an amalgamation of mercury and silver. The application of a wash
of hyposulphite de soda neutralises and removes the remaining chemicals,
after which comes the most important part of the process--that of
securing the impression upon the plate, which was discovered by Fizeau,
in 1845, till which time daguerreotype impression were merely
transitory. It may be described as enameling or gilding. The plate is
covered with a solution, consisting of chloride of gold, hyposulphite de
soda, and water, which worked upon by the agency of heat, fixes the
colors of the picture beyond the possibility of their fading. To
establish this fact, we have the authority of the eminent Faraday, who
declares that a daguerreotype properly gilded by this process can never
be naturally erased, and could only be removed by the application of
acids or some other agent. The time usually occupied in what is
generally called, "taking a likeness," is from fifteen to twenty seconds
and upwards, yet we witnessed a few days since, in the laboratory of Mr.
Williamson, of Brooklyn, a new method by which a perfect picture was
taken, by the aid of a galvanic batter, in one second; but as the
process is unprotected by patent, we are not at liberty to explain it
more fully.
In addition to what we will call the Daguerreotype proper, just
described, are numerous other processes which have been more or less
successful and popular; the principal being the Daguerreotype on Ivory,
the Crayon Daguerreotype, the Cameo Daguerreotype, the Daguerreotype in
Oil, the Talbotype or Calotype, the Crystalotype, &c.
The Daguerreotype on Ivory, introduced by Mr. Brady, we believe,
consists in the substitution of the material from which it derives its
name in the place of a metal plate, and the photographic image is then
transferred to a painter in oil colors. This process, which owes its
beauty as much to the skill of the artist as to the fidelity of the
Daguerreotype, is very much admired. The Daguerreotype in Oil is
precisely the same as the above, with the exception of an ordinarily
prepared metal plate being used in the place of ivory.
The Crayon Daguerreotype is the invention of Mr. J. A. Whipple, of
Boston, and is patented by him. The manner of obtaining it is very
simple. Over a hoop is stretched a piece of white paper, half of which
is removed, leaving the remaining half in the form of a crescent. This
is hung in a frame upon pivots, and placed between the sitter and camera
in such a manner that the lower portion of the image is cut off from the
spectrum. During the exposition of the plate the screen is made to
oscillate backward and forward. Instead of the ordinary back-ground, a
white one is used. This is a most beautiful style of Daguerreotype.
The Cameo Daguerreotype is almost the reverse of the Crayon, being
simply the head in light and the other parts dark and indistinct, the
portrait being prominent as in a cameo-cut picture. When well executed,
it presents a very tasteful appearance.
The multiplicity of visitors that are anticipated at the coming
Exhibition are being actively provided for by our leading Daguerreian
artists, whose handsome galleries abundantly prove that hitherto they
have not sought the smiles of the public in vain. In addition to the
temptation of elegantly furnished rooms, provided with papers and
illustrated works to while away the tedium of inevitable delays, a
different disposition of the skylight is attempted in one establishment,
an improved camera in another, and entirely new process in a third, and
so on. Among other experiments, one of our principal operators has
tried the effect of a sky-light of blue-glass, under the impression that
a picture would be thereby improved; but, owing to the variety of tints
in the glass itself, the plan has been found impractical, and
accordingly abandoned. Nevertheless, if in a few cases unsuccessful, it
is such attempts as these that have been the means of bringing the
Daguerrean art in this country to a perfection of which we may justly be
proud, and we trust that the enterprise and activity we have lately
witnessed in this branch of industry will this year meet again with an
abundant public patronage.
We anticipate that the Exhibition will add fresh laurels to those
which already grace our Daguerrean triumphs, as we learn that a large
space has been reserved for our leading artists, and we may in all
confidence look forward to a display superior even to that in Hyde Park,
as we have two years' longer experience to guide us.
We cannot do better than close our article with the words of a foreign
writer, an enthusiastic admirer of the Photographic art:
"Aided by the Stereoscope, what may we not expect to see realized?
Every scene hallowed to our memories by its associations with human
progress, in all its varied phases, may be revived before our eyes in
all the truthfulness of nature. From the East we may copy the temples
and the tombs which tell the story of a strange but poetic creed.
Assyria and Egypt may disclose their treasures to those who cannot
travel to survey them, in such a form that all doubt of their
authenticity must vanish. The harmonious elegance of the remain of
Greece and examples of Roman art may thus be easily collected and
preserved; and every time-honored fane of Europe may be brought home and
made to minister to our pleasure--instructing and refining our tastes,
and teaching all the mysteries of the beautiful, behind which, as under
the shelter of a zephyr-woven veil, we may survey all that is good and
gaze upon the outshadowing of the Divine."
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Posted for your enjoyment. Gary W. Ewer
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04-23-97 |
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