Maxime du Camp, Second Pylon of the Great Temple of Isis at Philae, 1849
Salted paper print from a paper negative
Photography which entered the public domain in 1839, first introduced the public to the most accurate representations of the ‘unknown’. With the ability to accurately capture specific images photographs served to provide people with glorious pictures of distant lands. Since the Daguerreotype was the first publically available photographic process, Daguerreotypist’s brought back pictures from exotic locations like; Egypt, Greece, Serbia and Russia. There is a quote from the nineteenth century about the arrival of the Daguerreotypes from far away lands:
Salted paper print from a paper negative
Photography which entered the public domain in 1839, first introduced the public to the most accurate representations of the ‘unknown’. With the ability to accurately capture specific images photographs served to provide people with glorious pictures of distant lands. Since the Daguerreotype was the first publically available photographic process, Daguerreotypist’s brought back pictures from exotic locations like; Egypt, Greece, Serbia and Russia. There is a quote from the nineteenth century about the arrival of the Daguerreotypes from far away lands:
“Travelers, you will soon be able, perhaps, at the cost of some hundreds of francs, to acquire the apparatus invented by M. Daguerre, and you will be able to bring back to France the most beautiful monuments, the most beautiful scenes of the whole world. You will see how far from the truth of the Daguerreotype are your pencils and brushes.”
Before the invention of the Daguerreotype people had only paintings and stories/tales passed down, about the unknown.
The Portrait was another milestone in the history of photography, which the public quickly embraced. In the past portraits were a very exspensive, and complicated process, having to sit for hours on end. In the 1860's portrits became cheaply availible to all levels of society. Portraits allowed the public to fulfill certain desires. Examples of this was the idea of leaving a visage to loved ones and to prosterity. Also, key figures in history who’s names and identities are forgotten and lost to history are immortalized in portraits, and their characters are preserved through the Daguerreotype process. Portraits also played an important social role in the rise of the middle class in Western Europe. By having one’s portrait done an individual of the assending classes could vissually affirm his social status to both himself and the whole world.
The Portrait was another milestone in the history of photography, which the public quickly embraced. In the past portraits were a very exspensive, and complicated process, having to sit for hours on end. In the 1860's portrits became cheaply availible to all levels of society. Portraits allowed the public to fulfill certain desires. Examples of this was the idea of leaving a visage to loved ones and to prosterity. Also, key figures in history who’s names and identities are forgotten and lost to history are immortalized in portraits, and their characters are preserved through the Daguerreotype process. Portraits also played an important social role in the rise of the middle class in Western Europe. By having one’s portrait done an individual of the assending classes could vissually affirm his social status to both himself and the whole world.
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