Highlights











Description

Handmade contemporary unique daguerreotype photograph on a mirror finish silver surface. The plate is a still-life of two pears, with the plate gilded and tinted with olive green and burnt umber pigments. Airtight enclosure with archival materials and anti-reflective museum glass. Wooden antique style frame. Signed by the artist on the reverse. Frame size is 19 x 16.5 cm, plate size 9 x 6 cm.

Daguerreotype is the earliest practical photographic technique, invented by Frenchman Louis Daguerre in 1839. A copper or brass plate is coated with a thin layer of silver, polished and sensitised to light with iodine. The plate is exposed in a camera and developed with heated mercury. It can also be developed using red light alone, the so-called Becquerel process with no mercury. The low photosensitivity can be increased by adding bromine to the sensitiser when using the mercury process.

The appearance of a daguerreotype can vary greatly depending on the viewing light. Make sure there is fairly strong light from the side or top of the image, and the mirror-like surface of the daguerreotype is reflecting something dark (see the short video below).

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