Louis Daguerre. Photo. Boulevard in Paris, 1838
THE ARTIST LOUIS DAGUERTE AND HIS DAGUEROTYPES
To the 175th anniversary of the advent of photography
At the noisy balls of Parisian bohemia, the young theater artist Louis Daguerre attracted people with his special charm inherent in a cheerful, sociable and dexterous person. In addition, he was an excellent dancer and even performed in ballet episodes on the stage of the Grand Opera.
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre (Daguerre) spent his childhood in the town of Cormeil near Paris, where he was born into the family of a minor official on November 18, 1787. Louis attended only primary school, he acquired the ability to write almost without errors and good handwriting. There was no talk of success in other sciences.
The father was happy to place his son as an apprentice to an architect in Orleans. Louis, who had loved to draw since childhood, had a keen eye, a steady hand and already knew some rules of perspective, was also happy. In 1804, an ambitious young man leaves Orleans and goes to Paris for fame and money. He becomes an apprentice decorator at the Grand Opera for three years.
Then Louis worked for almost 10 years as an artist with Pierre Prevost, a famous master of panoramic painting.
Since 1816, Daguerre became the main artist of the Ambipo-Comique theater. He had a natural gift for decorating, an excellent sense of lighting and perspective effects, and he knew the mechanics of the stage thoroughly. Soon many Parisian newspapers began to write that there was nothing to see on the stage of the theater except Mr. Daguerre’s scenery. Louis becomes the most famous theater artist in Paris. He really worked miracles: fairy-tale palaces, parks, forests appeared on the theater stage, and streams of water flowed. But there was no electric or gas lighting yet, and only oil lamps served as the light source.
In 1822, Louis decided to leave the theater and work independently. Daguerre conceived and created a diorama in a special pavilion, a spectacle that could not be compared with the panoramas that existed at that time. The artist showed the public impressive light scenes: “Dense Forest at Different Hours of the Day,” “Eruption of Vesuvius,” “Napoleon’s Tomb on St. Helena Island” and others. The diorama consisted of paintings constructed in several plans. The images were painted on both sides of a translucent canvas and alternately illuminated from the front and back through huge windows, which were covered with movable transparent color filter screens. It was a masterful job. Spectators could, for example, see the cathedral from the outside, and then suddenly find themselves in the twilight already inside it, the street darkens, candles light up, the cathedral is filled with parishioners, the organ sounds... The full effect of presence. Daguerre's huge dioramas, the subjects of which changed every six months, were a resounding success with the public.
For dioramas, Daguerre had to make many panoramic sketches from life using a camera obscura (lat. camera obscura - dark room) - a box with a hole in one of the walls and a screen made of frosted glass or thin paper on the opposite wall. To simplify the creation of paintings for dioramas, Daguerre came up with the absolutely fantastic idea of learning how to permanently save real images created by the lens on the screen of a camera obscura.
With his characteristic obsession, the artist sets to work, not yet really knowing where to start.
By chance, Daguerre learns that in the town of Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy there lives a certain Nicephore Niepce, who has been dealing with the same problem for many years and allegedly even achieved some success.
In 1829, Niepce, captivated by Daguerre’s charm, himself invited him to conclude a cooperation agreement. Louis, with his business acumen, quickly realized that the true result of their work should not just be to help the artist in his work, but an invention that would blow the minds and touch everyone. Daguerre even abandoned painting, sparing no effort on his idea. In 1833, Niepce died, and Daguerre began to continue the experiments himself, but, being an honest man, he included Niepce’s son, Isidore, in the agreement. Daguerre actively makes various changes to the Niepce process, but does not achieve noticeable improvements.
Only after 11 years (!) of discouraging experiments with various materials and chemicals, Daguerre was fabulously lucky. In 1837, he finally found a method that allowed him to make significant progress towards his dream. Daguerre's idea was to produce an image on the polished surface of a silver plate impregnated with iodide vapor, which made it sensitive to light. He placed this plate in a camera obscura, exposed it to light, and then developed it with mercury vapor and recorded the image by washing the plate with a strong solution of table salt and hot water. As a result, particles that were not exposed to light were washed away. The exposure time of the plate in the camera obscura ranged from 15 to 30 minutes (with the Niepce method - up to 8 hours!).
The result was a single plate with a non-vanishing mirror positive image, which the author called a “daguerreotype” after himself. Daguerreotypes (daguerreotypes) conveyed the smallest details of the objects photographed. This made it possible, when obtaining images “drawn” with light on a daguerreotype, to get rid of the services of not only an artist, but also an engraver.
Already in 1838, Daguerre moved around Paris with his heavy and bulky equipment and made daguerreotypes on the streets and boulevards. He showed them to writers, artists and Parisian newspaper editors, who made his invention popular. The famous daguerreotype depicting a boulevard in Paris (1838) became a symbol of the birth of photography.
True, the inventor did not reveal the essence of his process to anyone. Only on August 19, 1839, the daguerreotype method was made public at a joint meeting of the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts. The ten-minute report caused a real storm. The name of the decorative artist Daguerre was proclaimed in print as one of the most glorious names of modern France, and his discovery of light painting was considered as a beneficent gift that civilization owes to the French genius.
A brochure describing the process went through 30 editions in France and six abroad within a year, and the passion for daguerreotype became universal. Not a single technical discovery of that time attracted attention of such magnitude. Major scientists from different countries sought to personally meet Daguerre. Academies and scientific societies in Austria, Bavaria, Scotland, and the USA awarded him honorary member diplomas. King Louis Philippe made the inventor an officer of the Legion of Honor and assigned him a lifelong pension of 6 thousand francs per year.
Also in 1839, Daguerre, together with his relative Giroux, began making the first daguerreotype cameras for sale. All of them, along with instructions for use, were sold out within a few days. By 1841, a smaller chamber was created, and its weight decreased by 10 times. In addition, scientists, artists and hobbyists have improved the daguerreotype process. They managed to reduce exposure time to a few minutes, and also invented means of protecting images from damage and scratches.
The fame and recognition of Louis Daguerre grew as his method of obtaining images, now called photography, spread throughout the world. After publishing data about his process, the author introduced practically nothing new into it. Until his sudden death in 1851, Daguerre lived in seclusion in glory and honor near Paris, returning to his “first love,” painting.
The French Society of Fine Arts erected a monument to Daguerre at his grave in the cemetery of Petit Bry-sur-Marne. A worthy monument was erected to the inventor in his homeland, in Kormail. The name of Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, a simple and seemingly not very educated decorative artist, is included in the list of the greatest scientists of France, placed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre(French Louis Jacques Mand Daguerre, there is a transliteration option Daguerre; November 18, 1787 - July 10, 1851) - French artist, chemist and inventor, one of the creators of photography.
Biography
Louis Daguerre was born on November 18, 1787 in the town of Cormeil-en-Parisy near Paris. He received virtually no school education; at the age of thirteen, his father apprenticed him to an architect. In 1804, when Louis Daguerre was 16 years old, his father took him to Paris and placed him as an apprentice in the workshop of the Grand Opera theater decorator Degotti.
Daguerre was also known as a dancer, tightrope walker, and theater artist. By the time he came to Degotti, he already knew the laws of perspective, so the decorator took him on as a student. The artist’s natural gift immediately highlighted Daguerre’s productions, and critics began to note it. He performed miracles on stage, for example, together with his companion he built a diorama: seated spectators could see some huge cathedral from the outside, and then suddenly find themselves inside. For this purpose, two paintings were painted, measuring up to twenty-two meters in height. The diorama was a huge success in Paris and made Daguerre famous.
To simplify his work when creating such huge paintings, Daguerre used a camera obscura, but could not fix the image on the screen. Daguerre conducted a huge number of experiments experimenting with chemicals, and then learned about Nicéphore Niepce, who was engaged in approximately the same experiments. Daguerre writes him a letter, and Niepce offers to conclude a cooperation agreement. In the late 1820s, he worked with Joseph Niepce to create a photography method. Niepce died in 1833. Daguerreotype was invented after this, almost by accident, as a consequence of another experiment.
Daguerre did everything to turn Niepce's invention into a truly applicable technology, albeit using chemicals that were unknown to Niepce. Daguerre's idea was to produce images using mercury vapor. At first he conducted experiments with mercury bichloride, but the images were very weak. He then improved the process using sugar or chlorine oxide, and finally, in 1837, after eleven years of experimentation, he began to heat mercury, the vapor of which developed the image. He captured the image perfectly, using a strong solution of common salt and hot water to wash away the silver iodide particles that had not been exposed to light.
In 1839, Daguerre presented the process of obtaining a daguerreotype to the French Academy of Sciences. After this, his name and his technology became known throughout the world. Among his direct students is Antoine Claudet. Fame, wealth and confidence came to him. The name Niepce was practically forgotten.
Daguerre's principle of developing with mercury vapor was original and reliable, and was based, no doubt, on the knowledge Daguerre received from Niepce. Niépce did nothing to develop his invention further after 1829, nor did his son Isidore, who became Daguerre's partner after his father's death. The son, in great need of funds, a few years later entered into a new contract, which indicated that Daguerre was the inventor of the daguerreotype.
Daguerre died on July 10, 1851 in Bry-sur-Marne. His name is included in the list of the greatest scientists of France, placed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Memory
In 1935, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the visible side of the Moon named after Louis Daguerre.
Bibliography
- Daguerre's essay: Historique et description des precedes du daguerreotype et du diorama. P., 1839.
- Lit.:
- Evgenov S.V., Daguerre, Niepce, Talbot. Popular essay about the inventors of photography, M., 1938;
- Documents on the history of the invention of photography. Correspondence of J. N. Niepce, J. M. Daguerre and other persons, M., 1949.
Sergey TRANKOVSKY.
Science and life // Illustrations
Louis J. M. Daguerre (1787-1851). Daguerreotype.
Daguerre's diorama was as popular in the 19th century as cinema is today. A worker (right) changes the scenery, creating the illusion of continuous action taking place on stage.
Daguerre's sliding box camera obscura. 1839.
Paris Boulevard. The first daguerreotype with a person in the frame. 1839.
N.V. Gogol. Daguerreotype by S. L. Levitsky. 1848.
The invention of photography is associated with the name of the French decorative artist Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. He created colorful and spectacular dioramas, consisting of several paintings located on different planes, which were changed and illuminated differently, creating the illusion of changing times of day. One day, while painting another set, Daguerre noticed that an image of the street appeared on the wet paint - the role of a camera obscura was played by a hole in the curtain. The image remained visible the next day: it was fixed by the drying paint. This episode became a turning point in Daguerre's fate. He began looking for a way to preserve the light-painted image forever.
Joseph Nicéphore Niepce, who had been trying to capture images in a camera obscura for ten years, provided him with some help in this. Fascinated by lithography (a relief image engraved on stone, intended for printing copies), he conducted experiments first with stone, and then with metal plates coated with a varnish of his own invention. When exposed, the light destroyed the varnish layer, exposing the metal. By etching the plate in acid, Niépce obtained a copy of the image on the plate. He called his method heliogravure.
Having learned about Niepce’s experiments, Daguerre wrote him a letter and agreed to work together.
It soon became clear that the heliogravure method could not be improved. It was necessary to look for another principle of light painting. And Daguerre found him. On May 21, 1831, he reported to Niépce that light had a strong effect on silver iodide. The result was a weak image, which could be slightly improved by washing the plate with a hot solution of table salt or hyposulfite. There is a story that he discovered this by forgetting the spoon on a silver plate filled with iodine - under the influence of light, an image of a spoon remained on it. Niépce also obtained an image in a camera obscura on a layer of silver iodide, but was unable to repeat the experiment. Daguerre continued his work and in 1837 discovered the manifesting effect of mercury.
As often happens, the discovery happened by accident. One day Daguerre left several exposed records in the closet and after a while he discovered an image on one. He immediately realized that the effect was exerted by the vapors of some chemical substance stored in the closet. Taking out the jars one after another and putting in new plates each time, after a few hours he invariably discovered the developed image. And only after thoroughly searching the entire closet did I find a forgotten cup of mercury. Its vapors, reacting with the exposed plate material, made the image clearly visible.
By 1839, a method for obtaining images in a camera obscura, called daguerreotype, had finally emerged. It can be divided into several sequential operations.
1. A silver or silver-plated copper plate is exposed to iodine vapor in the dark for several minutes. A layer of silver iodide, a photosensitive material, appears on the surface of the plate.
2. The plate is placed in a camera obscura and exposed for 15 - 30 minutes in bright light (in 1840, Joseph Petzval designed a multi-lens portrait lens that increases the brightness of the image by 16 times and allows the shutter speed to be reduced to one minute). Under the influence of light, silver iodide molecules are destroyed, iodine vapor evaporates, and microscopic grains of silver form a latent (invisible) image.
3. The exposed plate is developed in mercury vapor heated to 50-80°C. Mercury dissolves silver, forming amalgam - a gray substance.
4. The developed plate is fixed by washing in a hot solution of table salt or hyposulfite, which dissolves the remaining silver iodide and exposes the polished silver surface.
5. The amalgam film is fragile, and silver is easily oxidized in air. Therefore, the finished daguerreotype is often coated with gold chloride, which makes it more durable and at the same time colors it in a red-brown tone. The image on the daguerreotype is mirrored.
Despite the obvious success, it was not possible to establish mass production of species photographs using the daguerreotype method: the creators promised to reveal its principles only after signing the contract. But businessmen were in no hurry to invest money in a dubious enterprise.
Disillusioned with entrepreneurs, Daguerre in 1839 turned to the famous physicist and astronomer, director of the Paris Observatory and deputy, Domenic Francois Arago and spoke in detail about his invention. Arago quickly understood its essence, highly appreciated it and realized that it was very promising. Moreover, he stated that such a business cannot be transferred into private hands, it must become a public property, the property of the state, the people and all humanity.
Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac, a famous physicist and chemist, praised the daguerreotype no less highly. Speaking in the House of Peers of France, he said: “This discovery serves as the source of a new art in the conditions of an old civilization. It will create an era and forever remain a symbol of glory.”
Numerous publications of articles about Daguerre's invention began. It was patented in England, Austria and Germany. Countless photographic studios opened, and amateurs mastered the daguerreotype technique. The year 1839 has gone down in the history of world science, art and culture as the year of the invention of photography.
HOW THE PHOTO APPEARED
Modern photographic equipment and technology were created by dozens of researchers, engineers and simply enthusiasts and lovers of this exciting, interesting field of art and technology over three centuries. It is unlikely to be possible to list everyone who contributed to its creation and development, but it is quite possible to outline the main stages in the development of modern photographic technology.
1694 The German researcher Wilhelm Gomberg, noticing that the surface of a bone plate coated with a solution of silver in nitric acid turns black in the light, discovered the photosensitivity of silver nitrate AgNO 3.
1727 German chemist Johan Schulze first observed the photosensitivity of silver chloride (AgCl) and the short-term appearance of an image on the surface treated with it - light painting.
1802 The Englishman Thomas Wedgwood used the copying method to obtain negative images on leather and paper soaked in a solution of silver nitrate, but was unable to record them.
1802 The English chemist Humphry Davy, using the Wedgwood method, photographed microobjects through a solar microscope, but also without fixation.
1813 The Frenchman Joseph Nicéphore Niepce began experiments in heliography - obtaining images on lithographic stones and tin plates coated with varnish of his own invention, and nine years later he developed a method for creating relief cliches on them by etching in acid and printing engravings and drawings from them.
1819 English astronomer John Herschel discovered that sodium sulphate, or hyposulfite Na 2 S 2 O 3, dissolves silver chloride, that is, it serves as a fixative (fixer) of a photographic image.
1824 French artist Louis Daguerre began experiments on fixing images in a camera obscura.
1829 Niepce and Daguerre create a joint venture to improve light painting methods.
1834 Englishman Fox Talbot, a well-educated researcher (philologist, ethnographer, member of the Royal Society of London in the field of mathematics), began researching the method of “photogenic drawing” based on silver chloride.
1835 Daguerre discovered the developing effect of mercury vapor on a latent photographic image and the fixing effect of a hot solution of sodium chloride (NaCl) or hyposulfite (Na 2 S 2 O 3).
1837 Daguerre entered into an agreement with Isidore Niepce, the son of Joseph Nicéphore, to give his name to the method of light painting, which from now on became known as daguerreotype.
1839 The French government acquired the rights to use photographic imaging techniques. On August 19, François Arago gave a detailed report on daguerreotype, which from that moment became the property of the whole world and soon gained enormous popularity.
1839 is considered the year of the birth of photography.
1839 On January 31, Talbot presented his invention to the Royal Society of London, demonstrating the copying of positive prints. Two years later, Talbot patented his method of negative-positive process - “talbotype”, later called calotype (from the Greek kallos - beautiful).
1840 English astronomer John Herschel discovered that on illuminated silver-chloride paper, the solar spectrum creates the primary colors - red, green and blue.
1844 Talbot receives a patent for a method for enlarging a photographic image and publishes a book illustrated for the first time with photographs obtained using his method.
1847 French physicist Antoine Cesar Becquerel obtained a fairly stable color image on a silver plate treated with chlorine.
1851 English chemist Scott Archer reported on a photoprocess based on the wet collodion method (collodion is a film solidified from an alcohol-ether solution of nitrocellulose). Photographic plates using his method had to be made immediately before shooting; a plein air photographer carried with him a whole laboratory - a light-proof tent for watering records, developing and fixing them.
1856 Englishman Richard Norris received dry photographic plates by proposing to cover wet collodion plates with a layer of gelatin, and organized their production. Distinguished by their enormous resolution, these plates were used in printing more than a hundred years later - until the middle of the last century.
1861 English physicist James Clerk Maxwell experimentally showed that all natural colors can be obtained by adding three primary colors - red, green and blue.
1868 The Englishman W. Harrison proposed pouring a mixture of gelatin solution with silver bromide and silver iodide onto glass plates, giving photographers for the first time the opportunity to carry a supply of photographic materials with them, rather than a laboratory for their production.
1869 Frenchman Ducos du Hauron printed color photographs by combining three negatives taken through filters of primary colors.
1878 Factory production of dry photographic plates began in England.
1880 Industrial production and widespread use of bromogelatin photographic plates began in Russia.
1880 The Eastman-Kodak company was founded in the USA.
1888 American George Eastman invented and registered the word “KODAK” in 1888, which is written and easily read in all languages, and the company’s corporate colors are yellow and red.
1891 French physicist Gabriel Lippmann developed a method of color photography based on the interference of light in a photosensitive emulsion (Nobel Prize 1908). Having improved it and used laser radiation, in 1962 Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk created a method for producing holograms that can be viewed in white light and replicated (see “Science and Life” No. 5, 1999).
1893 In Germany, the Agfa joint-stock company is created to produce photographic plates, and later photographic films and chemicals.
1894 Irishman John Joly proposed a three-color strip raster for shooting color transparencies. A similar device is used today in digital cameras and video cameras.
1900 The first amateur camera, Kodak-1, was created. It produced one hundred round frames with a diameter of 6.5 cm on roller celluloid film (also allowing the use of the most popular 6x9 cm format plates). The company’s motto became the words “You press the button, we do the rest”: at its receiving points they recharged the device, developed the captured films and printed photographs from them.
1903 George Eastman, together with Thomas Edison, constructs the first motion picture camera with specially created 35 mm wide film with perforations along the edges. This film still remains the standard for both amateur and professional photographic equipment.
1931 In Russia, photographic materials began to be produced at factories in Shostka (Svema), Pereslavl-Zalessky, Leningrad and Kazan (Tasma).
1935 Kodak released the first color three-layer photographic film.
1991 Kodak released the first mass-produced digital camera, the DSC-100. All previous models of digital cameras either were not put into production or were not intended for printing and processing images.
Literature
Evgenov S.V. Daguerre, Niepce, Talbot. A popular essay on the inventors of photography. - M.: State. cinematography publishing house. lit., 1938.
Mitchell E. Photography. - M.: Mir, 1988.
Chibisov K.V. Essays on the history of photography. - M.: Art, 1987.
As a decorator, Daguerre had to create designs with images. It was necessary to somehow facilitate the process so that I didn’t have to draw the necessary objects and settings every time. Daguerre knew how to take an image using a camera obscura, but did not understand how to record it. Countless experiments had to be carried out. At the same time, Nicéphore Niepce, who invented heliography, was doing similar things. Having learned about each other through the equipment supplier of optics Charles Chevalier, the researchers entered into an agreement and continued to work together to find an answer to the question.
After 11 years of experiments, Daguerre was able to capture the image. Alas, Niepce did not live to see this day. Since the technology was completely different from heliography, Daguerre gave it his name.
The question arose about the spread of innovation. Together with Niepce's successor, his son Isidore, they decided to introduce a paid subscription. The set price of 1000 francs was too high. A way out of the situation was proposed by physicist Francois Arago. He lobbied the French government for daguerreotype. Daguerre, in turn, presented the process of obtaining a daguerreotype at the Academy of Sciences. The French authorities bought the rights to the technology and made it public domain.
Louis Daguerre, 1850
After this, daguerreotype began to quickly spread throughout the world and continued to dominate until 1851, until it was replaced by new technical solutions. Daguerre also died that same year. His name is included in the list of the greatest scientists of France.
Today marks the 224th anniversary of the birth of one of the creators of photography - the French inventor Louis Daguerre.
Louis Daguerre was born on November 18, 1787 in the outskirts of Paris. He received virtually no school education. At the age of 13, his father assigned him as an apprentice to an architect. At 16, he took him to Paris and apprenticed him in the workshop of the Grand Opera theater decorator Degotti.
Daguerre was also known as a dancer, tightrope walker, and theater artist. By the time he came to Degotti, he already knew the laws of perspective, so the decorator took him on as a student. The artist’s natural gift immediately highlighted Daguerre’s productions, and critics began to note it.
On stage he worked miracles. For example, together with his companion he built a diorama: seated spectators could see some huge cathedral from the outside, and then suddenly find themselves inside. For this purpose, two paintings were painted, measuring up to twenty-two meters in height. The diorama was a huge success in Paris and made Daguerre famous.
To simplify the work when creating such huge paintings, Daguerre used a camera obscura, but could not fix the image on the screen. Daguerre conducted a huge number of experiments experimenting with chemicals, and then learned about Nicephore Niepce, who was engaged in approximately the same experiments. Daguerre wrote him a letter, Niepce offered to conclude a cooperation agreement.
In the late 1820s they worked together to develop a method of photography. Niepce died in 1833. Daguerreotype was invented after this, almost by accident, as a consequence of another experiment.
Daguerre did everything to turn Niepce's invention into a truly applicable technology, albeit using chemicals that were unknown to Niepce. Daguerre's idea was to produce images using mercury vapor. At first he conducted experiments with mercury bichloride, but the images were very weak.
He then improved the process using sugar or chlorine oxide, and finally, in 1837, after eleven years of experimentation, he began to heat mercury, the vapor of which developed the image. He captured the image perfectly, using a strong solution of common salt and hot water to wash away the silver iodide particles that had not been exposed to light.
In 1839, Daguerre presented the process of obtaining a daguerreotype to the French Academy of Sciences. After this, his name and his technology became known throughout the world. Fame, wealth and confidence came to him. The name Niepce was practically forgotten.
Daguerre's principle of developing with mercury vapor was original and reliable, and was based, no doubt, on the knowledge received by Daguerre from Niepce. Niepce did nothing to develop his invention further after 1829, nor did his son Isidore, who became Daguerre's partner after his father's death. The son, in great need of funds, signed a new contract a few years later, which stated that Daguerre was the inventor of the daguerreotype.
Daguerre died on July 10, 1851 in Bry-sur-Marne. His name is included in the list of the greatest scientists of France, placed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
The first photographs of Louis Daguerre and all humanity:
