Jammes and Janis, The Art of French Calotype, pl. 102, positive Howe, First Seen: Portraits of the World's Peoples 1840-1880 from the Wilson Centre for Photography, pl. 132-133, negative and positive variants
Catalogue Essay
Baron Humbert de Molard, a gentleman of leisure and a photographic pioneer, began experimenting with the medium as early as 1843. He produced an accomplished body of daguerreotypes before taking up paper photography around 1846 without the benefit of any published instruction. An ingenious craftsman with an extensive knowledge of chemistry, Humbert de Molard introduced new ways of toning and otherwise treating paper prints to improve their image quality and longevity. He was one of the first to make a serious study of image permanence. As a photographer, he created scenes redolent of rural life, and the paper negative offered here, as well as the positive print offered as lot 117, are prime examples of his photographic skill.
A positive print of this image is in the collection of the Société Française de Photographie, Paris.