History of the daguerreotype
Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre was born in a town near Paris, France on November 18, 1787. He moved to Orleans when he was five after his father took a minor government position there. Daguerre was an artist by nature and was always drawing and at age thirteen his father apprenticed him to an architect because he showed so much skill. At age sixteen, Daguerre moved to Paris on his own and began to paint stage sets. It was there that he met Charles Marie Bouton and they formed a partnership and together they opened a theater called the Diorama. The Diorama was unique in that it was theater not for actors but for scenery and with the illusionistic effect that everything on stage was to the audience quite realistic. They created this illusion through the use of a semi-transparent canvas on which reflected light was used to make the front picture visible, while the background was seen by transmitted light. There were other tricks as well. This theater was Daguerre livelihood until March 8, 1939 when the Diorama caught fire and burned to the ground. He never rebuilt it.
Interested in illusionistic effects, Daguerre was also interested in a project he had been working on at the same time of the Diorama that consisted with the use of a camera obscura, which was a box with a lens and a mirror inside tilted at a 45 degree angle with solid glass on top. This type of camera was often used to trace images that were reflected on the glass and was used extensively to create the illusions created in the Diorama. Daguerre was interested in capturing the reflected images with the use of chemicals rather than simply tracing them. Daguerre began a correspondence with J. Nicephore Niepce who he knew was working on a similar idea. Three years later in 1832 after much trepidation by Niepce the two formed a partnership and a contract was drawn up and signed. Three years later Niepce died. By 1939 Daguerre had created the first actual Daguerreotypes, which astonished everyone who saw them. There had been nothing like it before. Because the Diorama burnt to the ground the same year, Daguerre accepted an annual pension of 6000 francs a year from the government who purchased his idea and gave it to the public freely. Also, Daguerre gave some credit for his invention to Niepce and the government awarded Niepce’s son an annual pension of 4000 francs. Daguerre was given 2000 francs more a year than Niepce’s son because he also sold the secret to his Diorama. The daguerreotype was an instant success throughout Europe and in America. Daguerre died at age 64.
Interested in illusionistic effects, Daguerre was also interested in a project he had been working on at the same time of the Diorama that consisted with the use of a camera obscura, which was a box with a lens and a mirror inside tilted at a 45 degree angle with solid glass on top. This type of camera was often used to trace images that were reflected on the glass and was used extensively to create the illusions created in the Diorama. Daguerre was interested in capturing the reflected images with the use of chemicals rather than simply tracing them. Daguerre began a correspondence with J. Nicephore Niepce who he knew was working on a similar idea. Three years later in 1832 after much trepidation by Niepce the two formed a partnership and a contract was drawn up and signed. Three years later Niepce died. By 1939 Daguerre had created the first actual Daguerreotypes, which astonished everyone who saw them. There had been nothing like it before. Because the Diorama burnt to the ground the same year, Daguerre accepted an annual pension of 6000 francs a year from the government who purchased his idea and gave it to the public freely. Also, Daguerre gave some credit for his invention to Niepce and the government awarded Niepce’s son an annual pension of 4000 francs. Daguerre was given 2000 francs more a year than Niepce’s son because he also sold the secret to his Diorama. The daguerreotype was an instant success throughout Europe and in America. Daguerre died at age 64.