Le Christ portant sa croix
Photograph
c. 1827 (photographed)
c. 1827 (photographed)
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The French inventor Niépce made the earliest surviving photographic images, which he called ‘heliographs’ or ‘sun-writing’. Only 16 are thought to still exist. Although Niépce experimented with light-sensitive plates inside a camera, he made most of his images, including this one, by placing engravings of works by other artists directly onto a metal plate. He would then have the heliographs coated in ink and printed.
Object details
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| Materials and techniques | Niépce made the first photograph on a pewter plate in 1826 or 1827. He named his process Heliography. The Heliographic process used Bitumen of Judea, here on pewter, which hardens when exposed to light. To create a negative, an engraving was varnished, placed over the plate and exposed to sunlight. The soluble unexposed bitumen was dissolved in an oil of lavender-kerosene mixture and the plate was etched in an acid bath. The exposed hardened bitumen acted as a resist, so that the acid etched only areas of unexposed metal. The resulting heliographic plate was used to make final prints on paper. The heliographic process varies depending on how long the plate is immersed in acid. This plate is very lightly etched, the etching lines are so shallow that the plate could not be inked and printed. |
| Brief description | Photograph by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, 'Le Christ portant sa croix' (Christ Carrying his Cross), heliograph, c. 1827. |
| Physical description | Framed early heliograph on pewter. This heliograph on a pewter plate is taken from a varnished engraving (whereabouts unknown). |
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| Content description | This heliograph depicts the figure of Christ carrying a cross on his back. |
| Production type | Unique |
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| Credit line | The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund. |
| Summary | The French inventor Niépce made the earliest surviving photographic images, which he called ‘heliographs’ or ‘sun-writing’. Only 16 are thought to still exist. Although Niépce experimented with light-sensitive plates inside a camera, he made most of his images, including this one, by placing engravings of works by other artists directly onto a metal plate. He would then have the heliographs coated in ink and printed. |
| Associated object | PROV.6151-2017 (RPS Group record) |
| Bibliographic reference | p. 120
Burning with Desire: the conception of photography, by Geoffrey Batchen (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997). |
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| Accession number | RPS.1-2017 |
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| Record created | March 10, 2017 |
| Record URL |
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