Turkish Bath Scene
Photograph
c. 1860 (photographed)
c. 1860 (photographed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The daguerreotype process was introduced to the public in 1839 by Frenchman Louis Daguerre, and was hugely popular as a medium for portraiture until the middle of the 1850s. To create a daguerreotype, a silver plated sheet was given a light sensitive surface coating of iodine vapour. After a long exposure in the camera, the image was developed over heated mercury and fixed in a common salt solution. The image lies on a mirror-like surface and is best seen from an angle to minimise reflections. The surface of daguerreotypes is delicate and easily damaged, so professionally finished images were presented in a protective case or frame.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Turkish Bath Scene |
| Materials and techniques | Ambrotype - collodion positive process |
| Brief description | Photograph by Robert Thompson Crawshay, 'Turkish Bath Scene', collodion positive photograph, c. 1860, in case |
| Physical description | Cased photograph of a turkish bath scene depicting two reclining men wearing towels. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Gallery label | Gallery 100, 2016-17:
Robert Thompson Crawshay (1817-1879)
Bather in the Hot Room, Two Bathers Relaxing
About 1860
Robert Crawshay was the owner of a Welsh ironworks and an amateur photographer. He probably made these intimate images at Turkish Baths in Merthyr Tydfil, near his home in Wales. In the mid-nineteenth century, flash was not commercially available, so these scenes were artificially illuminated, perhaps using magnesium light. They are excellent examples of the Ambrotype process, popular in 1852-1890 as an inexpensive alternative to the Daguerreotype process.
Ambrotypes
Given by Edmund Esdaile
Museum nos. PH.292-1984, PH.293-1984 |
| Credit line | Given by Edmund Esdaile, descendant of the artist |
| Production | Descendant of photographer claimed that the picture was taken ca. 1970 at Tynemouth and depicts Crawshay's sons Arthur and Martin. It has since been disputed that these are Crawshay's sons. |
| Summary | The daguerreotype process was introduced to the public in 1839 by Frenchman Louis Daguerre, and was hugely popular as a medium for portraiture until the middle of the 1850s. To create a daguerreotype, a silver plated sheet was given a light sensitive surface coating of iodine vapour. After a long exposure in the camera, the image was developed over heated mercury and fixed in a common salt solution. The image lies on a mirror-like surface and is best seen from an angle to minimise reflections. The surface of daguerreotypes is delicate and easily damaged, so professionally finished images were presented in a protective case or frame. |
| Bibliographic reference | Val Williams and Susan Bright, How we are: photographing Britain, from the 1840s to the present London: Tate Publishing, 2007. ISBN: 9781854377142. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | PH.293-1984 |
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| Record created | May 28, 2004 |
| Record URL |
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