Louis Daguerre

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Image:Louis Daguerre.jpg Image:Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre.jpg

Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (November 18, 1787 – July 10, 1851) was the French artist and chemist who is recognized for his invention of the Daguerreotype process of photography.

He was born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis. He experimented on making pictures from 1824, showing dioramas around France, England and Scotland. A few years after Nicéphore Niépce produced the world's first photograph, the two men started a four-year cooperation until Niépce's sudden death in 1833. The main reason for the "partnership", as far as Daguerre was concerned, was connected to his already famous Dioramas. The Diorama was a cleverly lit scenario that by manipulation of lights in darkness came alive. The Diorama was a great success but Daguerre was not a gifted artist and the production of the scenes took time. Daguerre thought that the process developed by Niepce could help speed up the Diorama creation. Niepce was a printer and his process was based on a faster way to produce printing plates.

Daguerre announced the latest perfection of the Daguerreotype, after years of experimentation, in 1839, with the French Academy of Sciences announcing the process on January 9 of that year. Daguerre's patent was acquired by the French Government, and, on August 19, 1839, the French Government announced the invention was a gift "Free to the World." However, Daguerre himself deposed the patent for England on August 12, and this greatly slowed the development of photography in Great Britain. Antoine Claudet was one of the few people legally able to take daguerreotypes there.

The work on the Daguerre process was matched by Fox Talbot in England. Both men knew that they were working on a process that would revolutionise the art world. The Grand Tours which were so popular were illustrated by drawings of scenes and the "photographic" process would improve the quality and ease of which these popular holiday memories could be produced. Daguerre was not aware of the exact process Fox Talbot was working on. To protect his own invention Daguerre patented his process. Because Fox Talbot was an unknown competitor Great Britain was to be the only place the Patent was enforced. Daguerre was granted a pension by the French government for his work and did not need to make money from the invention to live. Fox Talbot spent a considerable amount of money on his invention/process (est £5,000 in 1830's money) and was keen to recover the costs which the Daguerre patent blocked.

The Daguerre process involved the coating of copper plates by mercury vapour. The resultant plate was sensitised and exposed to produce a mirror like exact reproduction of the scene, usually a portrait ( the rarer views are much sought after and are more expensive. The portrait process took several minutes but the time reduced with the "faster " lenses such as the Petzval first mathematically calculated lens. The image was a mirror of the original scene. The image could only be veiwed at an angle and needed protection from the air and finger prints so was encased in a glass fronted box. Some ambrotypes were passed off as Daguerreotypes by being placed in these type of boxes. But the process was cheaper involving a weakly developed negative being placed on back card or paper to appear as a positive. Tintypes also were "boxed" as Daguerrotypes.

The Daguerreotype was the Polariod of the day producing a single image which was not reproducible. Despite this major drawback millions of Daguerreotypes were produced. The system was not capable of reproduction as the Talbot process and by 1851 when Daguerre died the Fox Talbot negative process was refined by the development of the Wet collodion process so a glass negative allowed the print to be as clear as the Daguerreotype. The original Fox Talbot process was undertaken on paper and the fibres of this negative clouded the image slightly on printing. The new processes with their possible reproduction made the Daguerreotype redundant and the process disappeared very quickly.

Though Daguerre obtained a pension from the Government Neipce did not depite his contribution. Eventually his son fought for and won a pension from the government recognising his fathers work.

Daguerre died on July 10, 1851 in Bry-sur-Marne, 12 km from Paris. A fine monument marks his grave there.

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