The Pencil of Nature
()
About this ebook
The term "Photography" is now so well known, that an explanation of it is perhaps superfluous; yet, as some persons may still be unacquainted with the art, even by name, its discovery being still of very recent date, a few words may be looked for of general explanation.
It may suffice, then, to say, that the plates of this work have been obtained by the mere action of Light upon sensitive paper. They have been formed or depicted by optical and chemical means alone, and without the aid of any one acquainted with the art of drawing. It is needless, therefore, to say that they differ in all respects, and as widely us possible, in their origin, from plates of the ordinary kind, which owe their existence to the united skill of the Artist and the Engraver.
They are impressed by Nature's hand; and what they want as yet of delicacy and finish of execution arises chiefly from our want of sufficient knowledge of her laws. When we have learnt more, by experience, respecting the formation of such pictures, they will doubtless be brought much nearer to perfection; and though we may not be able to conjecture with any certainty what rank they may hereafter attain to as pictorial productions, they will surely find their own sphere of utility, both for completeness of detail and correctness of perspective.
Related to The Pencil of Nature
Related ebooks
Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMacke: 215 Colour Plates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPictorial Photography in America 1922 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInward of Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRembrandt's Religious Prints Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMillet: Master Drawings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArrows of the Chace - a collection of scattered n the daily newspapers 1840-1880 I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaster Minds: Creativity in Picasso's & Husain's Paintings. Part 4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdouard Manet: 132 Master Drawings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Auguste Rodin: 145 Master Drawings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurner and the Whale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaul Cezanne: 140 Master Drawings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seurat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFelicien Rops: Drawings 104 Colour Plates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilliam Hogarth: 88 Drawings & Studies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPainting with Fire: Sir Joshua Reynolds, Photography, and the Temporally Evolving Chemical Object Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJacques Louis David: 172 Paintings and Drawings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Drawings of Leonard da Vinci Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Antoine Watteau: 130 Master Drawings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaul Signac and artworks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDegas' Drawings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Francesco Guardi: 205 Colour Plates Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Camille Pissarro: Drawings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOtto Van Veen: Drawings & Paintings (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelacroix Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrederic Leighton: His Palette Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Everett Millais: Selected Paintings (Colour Plates) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdouard Manet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJames Whistler: 305 Plates Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
General Fiction For You
The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shantaram: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covenant of Water (Oprah's Book Club) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jackal, Jackal: Tales of the Dark and Fantastic Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything's Fine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Ends with Us: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Candy House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Recital of the Dark Verses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Black Girl: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Pencil of Nature
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Pencil of Nature - William Henry Fox Talbot
Table of Contents
Introductory Remarks
Brief Historical Sketch of the Invention of the Art
PLATE I. PART OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
PLATE II. VIEW OF THE BOULEVARDS AT PARIS.
PLATE III. ARTICLES OF CHINA.
PLATE IV. ARTICLES OF GLASS.
PLATE V. BUST OF PATROCLUS.
PLATE VI. THE OPEN DOOR.
PLATE VII. LEAF OF A PLANT.
PLATE VIII. A SCENE IN A LIBRARY.
PLATE IX. FAC-SIMILE OF AN OLD PRINTED PAGE.
PLATE X. THE HAYSTACK.
PLATE XI. COPY OF A LITHOGRAPHIC PRINT.
PLATE XII. THE BRIDGE OF ORLEANS.
PLATE XIII. QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD.
PLATE XIV. THE LADDER.
PLATE XV. LACOCK ABBEY IN WILTSHIRE.
PLATE XVI. CLOISTERS OF LACOCK ABBEY.
PLATE XVII. BUST OF PATROCLUS.
PLATE XVIII. GATE OF CHRISTCHURCH.
PLATE XIX. THE TOWER OF LACOCK ABBEY
PLATE XX. LACE
PLATE XXI. THE MARTYRS' MONUMENT
PLATE XXII. WESTMINSTER ABBEY
PLATE XXIII. HAGAR IN THE DESERT.
PLATE XXIV. A FRUIT PIECE.
H. Fox Talbot
The Pencil of Nature
Introductory Remarks
The little work now presented to the Public is the first attempt to publish a series of plates or pictures wholly executed by the new art of Photogenic Drawing, without any aid whatever from the artist's pencil.
The term Photography
is now so well known, that an explanation of it is perhaps superfluous; yet, as some persons may still be unacquainted with the art, even by name, its discovery being still of very recent date, a few words may be looked for of general explanation.
It may suffice, then, to say, that the plates of this work have been obtained by the mere action of Light upon sensitive paper. They have been formed or depicted by optical and chemical means alone, and without the aid of any one acquainted with the art of drawing. It is needless, therefore, to say that they differ in all respects, and as widely us possible, in their origin, from plates of the ordinary kind, which owe their existence to the united skill of the Artist and the Engraver.
They are impressed by Nature's hand; and what they want as yet of delicacy and finish of execution arises chiefly from our want of sufficient knowledge of her laws. When we have learnt more, by experience, respecting the formation of such pictures, they will doubtless be brought much nearer to perfection; and though we may not be able to conjecture with any certainty what rank they may hereafter attain to as pictorial productions, they will surely find their own sphere of utility, both for completeness of detail and correctness of perspective.
The Author of the present work having been so fortunate as to discover, about ten years ago, the principles and practice of Photogenic Drawing, is desirous that the first specimen of an Art, likely in all probability to be much employed