In August 1839 the Parisian Academy of the Sciences revealed the secret of the first photographic process and presented it as a gift to humanity. One of the most important \u201cgodfathers\u201d of daguerreotype, which was then offered as an \u201copen source\u201d, was Alexander von Humboldt, as the art historian Anna Ahrens explains in her blog in connection with the DHM exhibition \u201cWilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt\u201d<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Berlin art dealer Louis Sachse had been waiting for weeks for a delivery from Paris. On 6 September 1839 the very first cameras for Berlin finally arrived at his shop at Gendarmenmarkt. But in what condition!: all the bottles were broken, iodine and mercury had \u201cturned everything brown\u201d, the wooden stands and \u201csilver plate cases\u201d were ruined, the \u201ccases with the chemicals [were] in a thousand pieces and no longer recognizable\u201d.[i]<\/a> It was a disaster. How could anyone send such precious contents so thoughtlessly on such a long trip? \u201cThat was packaging for a dairy wagon travelling from [the Paris suburb] St. Cloud to Paris, and even then you should be congratulated if it had arrived in one piece!\u201d he wrote in an angry letter to the Giroux company \u2013 and he was not the only one who was disappointed: Alexander von Humboldt, who was \u201cso urgently\u201d waiting for his camera, \u201ccould not possibly believe that one could stick an unwrapped bottle of mercury in a crate!\u201d[ii]<\/a> Fortunately, both of them were well-acquainted with the Parisian art world as well as with the inventor of the first photographic process, Jacques Louis Mand\u00e9 Daguerre. He had personally demonstrated his invention to Humboldt more than half a year earlier.<\/p>\n At the turn of the century 1838\/1839 Humboldt visited Paris again. Wild rumours were circulating about Monsieur Daguerre, who was experimenting with images in his \u201cchamber noir\u201d [dark room]. It was said that by means of a mysterious process he could extract and fix the projections from a camera obscura<\/em> \u2013 a darkened room or box, known since ancient times, that projects an image from the outside world through a small hole onto the inner wall on the opposite side.<\/p>\n Camera obscura. Pen and ink drawing from a handwritten manuscript of the Principa Optices from the 17th century<\/p><\/div>\n This, the media claimed, was the \u201cart of the devil\u201d and \u201cblasphemy\u201d, an illusion that Daguerre merely exploited as a new business model.[iii]<\/a> For more than 25 years Daguerre had been running the Diorama in Paris, a darkened theatre in which huge painted panoramas could give the appearance of day or night by alternating the lighting, and could even seem to show movement.<\/p>\n Daguerre\u2019s Diorama, presentation of a view of Mount Vesuvius, woodcut, around 1825<\/p><\/div>\n The popular attraction had burned down in the summer of 1838. However, Daguerre had long since been concentrating on his photographic process, which, with no false modesty, he named Daguerreotype.[iv]<\/a><\/p>\n Replica of Daguerre\u2019s first camera from the House of Giroux, Paris 1839 \u00a9 Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin, Coleccionando Camaras, https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/coleccionandocamaras\/7236721090\/<\/p><\/div>\n It was reported that in 1838 he packed his carriage full of equipment and travelled throughout Paris photographing monuments and public buildings.[v]<\/a> He drummed up attention about his invention in order to either sell individual shares for 1000 francs apiece or to sell the exclusive rights to it for 200,000 francs. But the general skepsis toward the former Diorama owner was evidently still too great.<\/p>\n \u201cFinally,\u201d wrote Daguerre on 2 January 1839, he had met with Arago.[vi]<\/a> Fran\u00e7ois Arago was the director of the Paris observatory, permanent secretary of the Academy of the Sciences and politically active as a republican deputy. The astronomer and physicist was, one could say, \u201calmost\u201d as famous as Humboldt. They had been close friends for thirty years.[vii]<\/a> Arago brought in the third member of this alliance, the physicist and mathematician Jean-Baptiste Biot.[viii]<\/a> This trio of prominent researchers immediately understood the significance of Daguerre\u2019s discovery. Arago took over the mandate. His plan: to sell the procedure exclusively to the French government for the desired 200,000 francs. Already on 6 January 1839 he launched a press release in the Gazette de France<\/em> which announced a \u201crevolution\u201d for the sciences and arts.[ix]<\/a> On 7 January 1839 Arago presented the invention in the Academy of the Sciences, the \u201cauthenticity\u201d of which Humboldt and Biot had also confirmed.[x]<\/a><\/p>\n Why was it so important for Arago to have his Berlin friend with him at the meeting? Humboldt was already a person of world renown, a widely read author and skilled diplomat who occupied himself not only with his outstanding scientific research, but also with social and artistic questions. That was a decisive factor, because Daguerre had personally shown his visitors several times how the images came about, but he had not \u2013 \u201cunfortunately!\u201d, said Humboldt \u2013 revealed his secret.[xi]<\/a> Two letters that Humboldt wrote in February 1839 are among the earliest and most important literary testimonies concerning the course of the publication of photography. One is addressed to Duchess Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau,[xii]<\/a> the other to Carl Gustav Carus from Dresden, the important physician, scientist and artist friend of Caspar David Friedrich\u2019s.[xiii]<\/a> These letters are key documents for the understanding and progress of a previously unparalleled media campaign that catapulted the invention of photography with a bang on 19 August 1839 into the consciousness of the world public.<\/p>\n Humboldt was enthusiastic about Daguerre\u2019s pictures from the very first moment: they \u201cunremittingly inspired the understanding and the imagination.\u201d[xiv]<\/a> The photocarrier \u2013 a copper plate coated with a thin layer of silver \u2013 became iridescent brown-grey-colourful depending on the light situation. He presented his photos as artworks \u201cunder glass and frame\u201d. They showed city views of Paris and still lifes.[xv]<\/a><\/p>\n View of a street in Paris (Boulevard du Temple), Daguerreotype by Louis Daguerre, taken from the window of his studio, 1838<\/p><\/div>\n Louis Jacques Mand\u00e9 Daguerre, L\u00b4At\u00e9lier de l\u00b4artiste [The Artist\u2019s Studio], Daguerreotype, 1837<\/p><\/div>Seen from the proper angle, Daguerreotypes show a fascinating accuracy of detail and clarity. Arago discovered \u201cthat in a skylight (and what minuteness!!) a window pane was broken and covered over with paper.\u201d[xvi]<\/a> In response to a special wish the inventor shot a picture of a dead spider: \u201cno fibre, no vessel, no matter how small they might be, that could not be monitored and studied.\u201d[xvii]<\/a> This mysterious \u201creagent\u201d would give chemistry, physics and even astronomy undreamed-of possibilities.[xviii]<\/a> On the day of Humboldt\u2019s departure, 3 January 1839, Arago \u201ctriumphantly\u201d showed his friend \u201ca picture of the moon\u201d which, like the spider, they had requested from Daguerre.[xix]<\/a> The researchers recognised the greatest value of the invention by far to be in travel photography. The possibility that \u201cthe method could be used by anyone and on travels,\u201d as Humboldt underscored, comprised a democratic element that corresponded with his fundamental liberal position.[xx]<\/a> And therefore Humboldt was convinced: if \u201cthe material in which the light leaves lasting traces can easily be transported on travels, it is probable that the chamber of deputies will accept Arago\u2019s proposal to give the 200,000 francs\u201d for the patent[xxi]<\/a> \u2013 and \u201cthen the government will make the invention public in accordance with the prevailing noble custom.\u201d[xxii]<\/a><\/p>\n The rumours, sensational headlines and claims of priorities after Arago\u2019s press release caused a huge stir everywhere. \u201cThe same questions are posed to me forty times a day. The announcement of having seen how the image comes about and how it is generated without difficulty \u2013 that is the decisive factor,\u201d confirmed Humboldt in a letter to his friend at the end of April 1839.[xxiii]<\/a> In February 1839 he had already assured Duchess Friederike and Carl Gustav Carus: \u201cNo one in the Parisian world except the inventor knows more about it than we do.\u201d[xxiv]<\/a> And it is exactly at this point that the matter again becomes exciting.<\/p>\n For already in January 1839 Humboldt, Arago and Biot had each received an identical letter from the gentleman scholar Henry Fox Talbot of London, in which he submitted well-founded priority claims for the invention.[xxv]<\/a> Officially the three scientists rejected Talbot\u2019s claims. But Humboldt confided to the duchess: \u201cI am very glad that the letter [from Talbot] did not reach me in Paris, because it may cause an unpleasant dispute about priorities\u201d \u2013 and added: \u201cHow should one explain that the honourable Englishman has kept such an invention secret, like the Pope from the cardinals?\u201d[xxvi]<\/a> Humboldt could not understand how anyone could hold back the knowledge of a discovery so important for humanity. It was incompatible with his liberal view of the world. He did not, however, basically question the achievements of his British colleague. Always the diplomat, he sent Duchess Friederike both the \u201clittle letter of Mr Talbot (a lovely old name)\u201d as well as \u201can announcement of Daguerre\u2019s\u201d, which \u201cis also a rarity.\u201d[xxvii]<\/a> He let the duchess form her own opinion. If the adversaries should \u201cfight against each other and become agitated\u201d, however, he would be obliged to take an official position.[xxviii]<\/a> Humboldt must have foreseen that he would be faced with this dilemma. On 5 March 1839, barely four weeks later, he addressed a private letter to his English colleague Talbot. His formulations are full of ambiguities. Humboldt speaks of a time \u201cin which coalitions were the order of the day.\u201d[xxix]<\/a> The word \u201ccoalitions\u201d is the only one he underlined, as if he wanted to be sure that the London scholar would understand how to interpret his statement: Humboldt had long since formed a coalition with Arago and Daguerre, which he would honour.<\/p>\n The story has a happy end, as we know, for they all got their due. Humboldt stood by his friend Arago,[xxx]<\/a> who saw to it that the government bought Daguerre\u2019s invention and presented it as a gift to humanity on 19 August 1839. It was an ingenious coup: with the publication of photography as an \u201copen source\u201d, as we would now call it, the new medium celebrated the democratic potential of the modern age. From this time on there existed a world of images before August 1839 and a different one thereafter.<\/p>\n Theodore Maurisset, Daguerreotypomania, December 1839, Lithograph<\/p><\/div>\n Talbot also got his due: he became the inventor of photography as a negative process on paper, which won out in the end. In 1844, the same year in which Talbot compiled his famous photobook The Pencil of Nature<\/em>, he also sent Humboldt a photo album with 22 photographs \u2013 it is the first photobook of the world.[xxxi]<\/a><\/p>\n Herrmann Biow, Alexander von Humboldt, 1847, Daguerreotype<\/p><\/div>\n And whatever happened with Humboldt\u2019s first camera? \u201cWith great effort\u201d Louis Sachse succeeded in getting the French cameras to work. On 20 September 1839 he presented his own first pictures in his shop: \u201ca picturesquely draped room\u201d and a view of J\u00e4gerstrasse in the direction of Gendarmenmarkt.[xxxii]<\/a> Humboldt himself probably never in his life pressed a shutter button. But he had portraits of himself made with a camera and used the image maker from that time on for his extensive research.<\/p>\n [i]<\/a> Louis Friedrich Sachse to the company Giroux & Cie. in Paris, 6 September 1839; cit. in Anna Ahrens, Der Pionier. Wie Louis Sachse in Berlin den Kunstmarkt erfand, Cologne\/Weimar\/Vienna 2017, p. 231. On the Giroux company, which produced and sent the first cameras, see p. 226ff. For the introduction of photography in Berlin cf. pp. 217-276. Also Anna Ahrens, \u201cNiemand in der Pariser Welt wei\u00df mehr als wir davon\u201d. Alexander von Humboldt und die Geburtsstunde der Fotografie, in: David Blankenstein, Ulrike Leitner, Ulrich Pl\u00e4\u00dfler und B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Savoy (eds.), \u201cMein zweites Vaterland\u201d. Alexander von Humboldt und Frankreich, Berlin 2015, pp. 261-277. Doctorate in art history („Der Pionier. Wie Louis Sachse in Berlin den Kunstmarkt erfand“, 2013\/17), since 2014\/18 staff member and head of the 19th century art department at the auction house Grisebach, Berlin. Previously research associate at research projects and exhibitions on 19th century art in Berlin and L\u00fcbeck, and lecturer at universities in Berlin, Cologne and Marburg.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In August 1839 the Parisian Academy of the Sciences revealed the secret of the first photographic process and presented it as a gift to humanity. One of the most important \u201cgodfathers\u201d of daguerreotype, which was then offered as an \u201copen source\u201d, was Alexander von Humboldt, as the art historian Anna Ahrens explains in her blog in connection with the DHM exhibition \u201cWilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[789,113,1956,205],"class_list":["post-3664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein-en","tag-camera","tag-humboldt-en","tag-invention","tag-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3667,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3664\/revisions\/3667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rumour mill<\/h3>\n
![\"Camera](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ABB.-1-Camera-Obscura-Federzeichnung.jpg\")
![\"Daguerre\u2019s](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Abb-2-Daguerres-Diorama.jpg\")
![\"Replica](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/7236721090_79bafc184a_b-1024x680.jpg\")
A secret meeting<\/h3>\n
Understanding and imagination<\/h3>\n
![\"View](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Abb-4--1024x735.jpg\")
![\"Louis](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Abb-5--1024x745.jpg\")
Coalitions<\/h3>\n
Fin<\/h3>\n
![\"Theodore](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Abb-6-Maurisset-Dagguerreotypomanie.jpg\")
![\"Herrmann](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Abb-7-Hermann-Biow-Portr\u00e4t-Alexander-von-Humboldts-Berlin-1847-817x1024.jpg\")
Sources<\/h3>\n
\n[ii]<\/a> Ibid.
\n[iii]<\/a> Cf. Walter Benjamin, Kleine Geschichte der Fotografie (1931), in: Texte zur Theorie der Fotografie, ed. by Bernhard Stiegler, Stuttgart 2010, pp. 248-269, here p. 249; Ahrens 2017, p. 228ff.
\n[iv]<\/a> Daguerre\u2019s former business partner Nic\u00e9phore Ni\u00e9pce (1765-1833), inventor of heliography, had already undertaken decisive attempts in the mid-1820s. After the latter\u2019s death his nephew Isidore Ni\u00e9pce took over the contract which Daguerre had renewed in his favour after his successful results with shortened exposure times (from September 1837).
\n[v]<\/a> Cf. Helmut Gernsheim, Geschichte der Fotografie. Die ersten hundert Jahre, Berlin 1983, p. 58.
\n[vi]<\/a> Louis Jacques Mand\u00e9 Daguerre to Isidore Ni\u00e9pce, 2 January 1839, printed in full in Steffen Siegel (ed.), Neues Licht. Daguerre, Talbot und die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung der Fotografie im Jahr 1839, Paderborn 2014, p. 41.
\n[vii]<\/a> Fran\u00e7ois Arago (1786-1853). Humboldt calls Arago his \u201cradical! friend\u201d and at the same time one of the \u201ckindest people on earth\u201d. Cf. Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839, printed in full in: Siegel 2014, pp. 78-79, here p. 79. On Arago\u2019s importance in the course of the introduction of photography cf. also Anne McCauley, Arago, l\u00b4invention de la photographie et la politique, in: \u00c9tudes photographiques, 2 (May 1997), pp. 6-34.
\n[viii]<\/a> Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862).
\n[ix]<\/a> Henri Gaucheraud, Die Sch\u00f6nen K\u00fcnste. Neue Entdeckung, in: La Gazette de France, 6 January 1839, p. 1; German translation in: Siegel 2014, pp. 49-51.
\n[x]<\/a> Ibid. and Dominique Fran\u00e7ois Arago, The fixation of images that are formed in the focus of a camera obscura, protocol of the session of 7 January 1839 in the Academy of the Sciences in Paris, published in: Comptes rendus hebdomanaires des sciences de l\u00b4Acad\u00e9mie des Sciences 8 (1839), pp. 4-6; German translation in: Siegel 2014, pp. 51-54.
\n[xi]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 78.
\n[xii]<\/a> Ibid.
\n[xiii]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Carl Gustav Carus, 25 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 85ff.
\n[xiv]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 78.
\n[xv]<\/a> Ibid.
\n[xvi]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Carl Gustav Carus, 25 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 85.
\n[xvii]<\/a> Henri Gaucheraud, Press release from January 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 50.
\n[xviii]<\/a> Dominique Fran\u00e7ois Arago, Protocol of the session in the Academy of the Sciences in Paris 1839, cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 53.
\n[xix]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Carl Gustav Carus, 25 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 86.
\n[xx]<\/a> Ibid. and Petra Werner, Himmel und Erde. Alexander von Humboldt und sein Kosmos. Berlin 2004, p. 126.
\n[xxi]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 79.
\n[xxii]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Carl Gustav Carus, 25 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 86.
\n[xxiii]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Fran\u00e7ois Arago, 25 April 1839, cit. in: Hanno Beck, Alexander von Humboldt. F\u00f6rderer der fr\u00fchen Photographie, in: Silber und Salz. Zur Fr\u00fchzeit der Photographie im deutschen Sprachraum (1839-1860). Catalogue manual for the 150th anniversary of the Agfa-Foto-Historama, Cologne, Joseph-Haubruch-Kunsthalle, Munich, Stadtmuseum and Hamburg, Museum f\u00fcr Kunst und Gewerbe, ed. by Bodo von Dewitz and Reinhard Matz, Cologne 1989, pp. 40-59, here p. 43.
\n[xxiv]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 78, and Alexander von Humboldt to Carl Gustav Carus, 25 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 85.
\n[xxv]<\/a> Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877), English photo pioneer.
\n[xxvi]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Herzogin Friederike von Anhalt-Dessau, 7 February 1839; cit. in: Siegel 2014, p. 79.
\n[xxvii]<\/a> Ibid.
\n[xxviii]<\/a> Ibid.
\n[xxix]<\/a> Humboldt\u2019s letter to Talbot is printed in full in: Beck 1989, pp. 40-59, here p. 53.
\n[xxx]<\/a> Alexander von Humboldt to Fran\u00e7ois Arago, 25 April 1839; cit. in: Beck 1989, p. 43.
\n[xxxi]<\/a> On the occasion of the 250th<\/sup> anniversary of Humboldt\u2019s birth, the Museum Ludwig presented from 13 October 2018 to 10 February 2019 under the title \u201cAlexander von Humboldt, die Fotografie und sein Erbe\u201d a successful exhibition on this topic from the museum\u2019s own photo collection, including Talbot\u2019s album that he gave to Humboldt in 1844.
\n[xxxii]<\/a> Ahrens 2017, p. 234.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n ![](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Portr\u00e4t_AnnaAhrens.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 Privat
\n<\/sup><\/td>\n<\/td>\n \n Dr. Anna Ahrens<\/h4>\n
The Godfather \u2013 Humboldt and the Invention of Photography<\/h2>\n