The Fruit Sellers thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

The Fruit Sellers

Photograph
before 13 December 1845 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Talbot, William Henry Fox (photographer)
Rev. Richard Calvert Jones (photographer)

Salted paper print, moderate brown colour.


Object details

Categories
Photographs
Portraits
The Royal Photographic Society
Making It Up: Photographic Fictions
RPS Digitisation Project
Object type
Photograph
Titles
  • The Fruit Sellers (generic title)
  • Group of Persons Selling Fruit and Flowers (alternative title)
Materials and techniques
Not available for issue to the public in the Prints and Drawings Study Room due to light sensitivity. Please contact the Photography Department via our enquiry service for further information.
Salted Paper
Salted Paper Processes
Photography
Brief description
Photograph attributed to William Henry Fox Talbot and Rev. Richard Calvert Jones, 'The Fruit Sellers', salted paper print, before December 1845
Physical description
Salted paper print, moderate brown colour.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 172mm
  • Image width: 210mm
Gallery label
Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2018) Soon after announcing his invention of the calotype, or paper negative, process, Talbot noted that ‘when a group of persons has been artistically arranged, and trained by a little practice to maintain an absolute immobility for a few seconds of time, very delightful pictures are easily obtained’. The members of this group were not actually selling fruit but were probably domestic staff arranged by fellow-photographer Calvert Jones on the grounds of Talbot’s estate, Lacock Abbey. Marta Weiss
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.
Object history
Published in V&A Publications/Thames and Hudson 'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions' 2018, by Marta Weiss

Book caption: Soon after announcing his invention of the calotype, or paper negative, process, Talbot noted that ‘when a group of persons has been artistically arranged and trained by a little practice to maintain an absolute immobility for a few seconds of time, very delightful pictures are easily obtained.’ The members of this group were not actually selling fruit but were probably domestic staff arranged by fellow-photographer Calvert Jones on the grounds of Talbot’s estate Lacock Abbey.
Production
From negative in the RPS collection, RPS025165 (RPS.86-2017); same as RPS025197, RPS025199, RPS025205, RPS025280.
Associated object
PROV.1597-2017 (RPS Group record)
Bibliographic references
  • Die aufgehobene Zeit: die Erfindung der Photographie durch William Henry Fox Talbot, by Hubertus von Amelunxen (Berlin: Nishen, 1988): 079.
  • William H. Fox Talbot: inventor of the negative-positive process, by André Jammes (translated by Maureen Oberli-Turner) (New York: Collier, 1973): 31.
  • Printed Light: the scientific art of William Henry Fox Talbot and David Octavius Hill with Robert Adamson, by John Ward (Edinburgh: Scottish National Portrait Gallery by H.M.S.O., 1986): 102.
  • Schaaf, Larry John. The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN 0691050007.
  • Published in V&A Publications/Thames and Hudson 'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions' 2018, by Marta Weiss
Other numbers
  • RPS025204 - Royal Photographic Society number
  • old RPS 23 - Royal Photographic Society number
  • XRP592 - RPS collection - V&A identifier
Collection
Department of Photography
Accession number
RPS.125-2017

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Record createdMarch 27, 2017
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1387973/the-fruit-sellers-photograph-talbot-william-henry/
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