Lot 110: JOSEPH NICÉPHORE NIÉPCE, 1765-1833

LA JEUNE FILLE FILANT SA QUENOUILLE, 1825-6

image size: 132 by 107mm (5¼ by 4¼ in.), paper size: 178 by 144mm (7 by 5¾ in.)

heliogravure, dated '1825' in pencil in the margin, mounted on card, the mount inscribed in ink 'Premiere [sic] épreuve héliographique sur étain (1825)/par Nicèphore Nièpce [sic]./hommage de l'auteur à son parent le Colonel Nièpce [sic].', framed and glazed, the reverse of frame inscribed in pencil 'A. Perrault-Niepce à Tennecy-le-Grand' and with a label inscribed 'Perrault-Niepce' ,

PROVENANCE

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.
Thence by descent.

LITERATURE

See Marignier, J-L, 1999, p. 213 for an illustration of the only other known heliogravure of this subject.

NOTE

A PREVIOUSLY UNRECORDED PRINT OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT IMAGES FROM THE PRE-HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Even today, people are more likely to attribute the invention of photography in France to Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre rather than to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. While it is well known to scholars and enthusiasts that Niépce created an image by photographic means (of the view from his window) as early as 1827, it is popularly held that 1839 is the date of the invention of photography.

The pivotal role played by Niépce in that invention was certainly eclipsed by that of Daguerre, the man with whom he entered in partnership in 1829. This unlikely pairing of the gentleman inventor from Chalon-sur-Saône and the Parisian entrepreneur came about, it is said, because of a visit made by a distant cousin of Niépce to the boutique of Vincent Chevalier, the leading Parisian optical instrument maker.

We might summarise the various accounts of this pivotal meeting as follows: when Colonel David Niépce travelled to Paris on regimental business in January 1826, his cousin asked him to acquire a particular lens from Vincent Chevalier. In conversation with Chevalier, the Colonel confirmed that his cousin had succeeded in fixing the images formed in the camera obscura. In order to convince Chevalier of Nicéphore's success in the field of photographic experimentation, he showed the optician a heliogravure of 'La Jeune Fille filant sa quenouille'. The following day Daguerre also visited Chevalier, and was told the amazing news. Within days a letter from Daguerre arrived at Chalon-sur-Saône.

This heliogravure is indeed a remarkable object. The original heliographic plate, thought to be pewter, has never been traced. This print is a previously unrecorded example and is from the collection of a branch of the Niépce family. Its relatively faint appearance suggests that it was pulled from a shallow etched pewter plate. As Niépce began to have his plates engraved by Lemaître in early 1827, it is highly probable that this heliogravure was printed by Niépce himself.

According to his accounts of his experiments as detailed in his letters to his cousin Dubard de Curley, Niépce abandoned the use of copper plates in favour of pewter ones in the spring of 1826. If therefore a photo-engraved metal plate (or a print pulled from it) of 'Jeune Fille' was seen in Paris in January, the plate was copper rather than pewter. This is perfectly possible, as, having rendered them translucent, Niepce did re-use the engravings of other subjects (such as that of Cardinal d'Amboise).

The fact that the annotation in the margin of the heliogravure and the inscription on the mount dates it to 1825 is broadly in line with near-contemporary datings of Niepce's achievements, which tended to bring them forward a few months (or even a couple of years).

A copy of the conservation report is available on request.