William Henry Fox Talbot (more commonly referred to as Fox Talbot), born 1800 in Dorset, England to a wealthy family. He was an eager student but said to be painfully shy to the point of being reclusive. Fox went on to attend Cambridge university and was also elected a member of parliament in 1833.
Known today as a pioneer of photography, it was a holiday in Lake Como, that prompted him to ‘dream up a new machine with light-sensitive paper’ that would sketch the scenary for him as he was increasingly frustrated with his attempts to sketch.
Thomas Wedgwood had already made photograms - but these faded quickly. In 1827, Joseph Nicéphore de Niepce had produced pictures on bitumen, and in January 1839, Louis Daguerre displayed his 'Daguerreotypes' - pictures on silver plates Three weeks later, Fox Talbot reported his 'art of photogenic drawing' to the Royal Society. His process based the prints on paper that had been made light sensitive, rather than bitumen or copper-paper.
Fox Talbot went on to develop the three primary elements of photography: developing, fixing, and printing. He discovered by accident that there was an image after a very short exposure. and that he could chemically develop it into a negative. The image on this negative was then fixed with a chemical solution. With the negative image, Fox realised he could use the negative for repeat printing and therefore could make any number of positive prints, unlike the Daguerreotypes. He named the process the 'calotype' and patented it 1841. The following year was rewarded with a medal from the Royal Society for his work.
Fox was also a renowned mathematician, an astronomer and archaeologist, He died on 11 September 1877
The Fox Talbot Museum located in his former home, Lacock Abbey is owned and run by the National Trust. The 'Talbot Collection' containing over 4,000 photographs and more than 10,000 letters and other correspondence between Talbot and his family and friends is housed by the British Library after being generously donated by the 'Talbot Descendants'.
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| Window in the South Gallery of Lacock Abbey Made from the oldest photographic negative in existence 1835 |
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| Positive & Negative - Oak Tree 1842 |
The Fox Talbot Museum located in his former home, Lacock Abbey is owned and run by the National Trust. The 'Talbot Collection' containing over 4,000 photographs and more than 10,000 letters and other correspondence between Talbot and his family and friends is housed by the British Library after being generously donated by the 'Talbot Descendants'.
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