Sailing vessels in harbour
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Jones, Calvert Richard (Rev.), born 1802 - died 1877 (photographer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Salt paper print from calotype negative
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H, case X, shelf 353
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This scene of ships in harbour is an early example of the calotype process, a paper negative process. Invented by William Henry Fox Talbot during the 1830, it was the beginning of the negative positive process still in use today. The photographer, Calvert Jones, was introduced to the process by a cousin of Talbot and by close friends who lived near to Jones in South Wales.
.The huge wooden hulls of the ships dominate this scene at the old Bristol harbour. The stern of one ship and the prow of the other are visually fused together, linked by the dark taut lines of rigging and a brightly lit bowsprit, which protrudes almost into the hull of the adjacent ship.
Physical description
Close up of two sailing ships -the stern of one and the prow of the other -in harbour. Bristol cathedral, with its castellated and pinnacled walls, provides the background. The print is a deep purple-brown with good tonal range and contrast. There is a narrow band of fading to all edges of the print and notably to the bottom left corner, where there is also a finger mark.
Place of Origin
UK (photographed)
Date
ca. 1845 (photographed)
Artist/maker
Jones, Calvert Richard (Rev.), born 1802 - died 1877 (photographer)
Materials and Techniques
Salt paper print from calotype negative
Dimensions
Height: 17.4 cm, Width: 22.5 cm
Object history note
Calvert Richard Jones was one of the first to learn of W.H. F Talbot's photographic discoveries in the late 1830s through Talbot's friends and relations who lived near to Jones in South Wales. Jones subsequently became one of the few Britons to produce a substantial body of calotypes in Britain and abroad. His work stands out in the early development of photography because of his ability to fuse his technical skill with the influence of his training as a watercolorist.
Jones understood the importance of textures and surfaces and the use of light. In this image a medley of taut ropes and timber, shadow and silhouette create a dynamic fusion between the prow and stern of two sailing vessels. This quay side scene of Bristol's medieval harbour captures a moment from a previous era.
Historical context note
The ships are in Green's Dock, Bristol, a dry dock on Canons Marsh that ran westwards from the centre of St Augustin's Reach (the old harbour- a thirteenth century channel dug from the R. Frome). Green's Dock was filled in the 1880s for quay side improvements. The building behind is Bristol Cathedral.
Information: Bristol's Museums.
Descriptive line
'Sailing vessels in harbour', salted paper print from calotype negative, Calvert Richard Jones, ca.1845
Exhibition History
The Golden Age of British Photography 1839-1900
The Golden Age of British Photography 1839-1900 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 18/05/1986-31/05/2003)
The Golden Age of British Photgraphy 1839-1900 (Minneapolis Institute of Arts 20/10/1985-31/12/2008)
The Golden Age of British Photgraphy 1839-1900 (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 04/08/1985-31/12/2005)
The Golden Age of British Photgraphy 1839-1900 (Philadelphia 27/10/1984-06/01/1985)
The Golden Age of British Photgraphy 1839-1900 (Victoria and Albert Museum 19/08/1984-30/06/2006)
Labels and date
Calvert Richard Jones,
Sailing Vessels in Harbor
1843-1847
Materials
Salted paper
Techniques
Calotype
Subjects depicted
Landscapes (representations); Ships; Harbours; Bristol
Categories
Photographs
Collection code
PDP
