Rare showing of someof earliest photographs

SOME of the world’s oldest examples of photography will be displayed together in a rare showing at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

The three artefacts were created by Joseph Nicphore Nipce, the man recognised as the world’s first photographer, and are part of The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the museum.

Experts have concluded that the images, produced on pewter plates, are among the finest examples of Nipce’s works.

Un Clair de Lune, Le Cardinal d’Amboise and Christ Carrying his Cross will be displayed during a two-day conference, entitled ‘Nipce in England’, on October 13 and 14, revealing recent advancements in research by the National Media Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in Los Angeles.

The plates can then be viewed by appointment until the end of October.

Philippa Wright, curator of photographs at the National Media Museum, said: “The fact these photographic treasures are part of the National Collection of Photographs which is cared for here in Bradford, in the UK, is quite amazing. That they will all be on public display in this manner, out of their frames for perhaps the last time, is very special indeed.”

In the early part of the 19th century, Nipce created images on several plates and brought them to England to demonstrate his techniques in heliography, a process which is a forerunner of modern photography.