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Top of Sharington's Tower, Lacock Abbey, Taken from the Roof above the South Gallery

October 14, 1840
Not on view
Talbot's earliest camera images required exposures of an hour or more, but on September 23, 1840, he made a startling discovery that dramatically increased the medium's potential. He found that an exposure of mere seconds, leaving no visible trace on the chemically treated paper, nonetheless left a latent image that would appear when immersed in a solution of gallic acid. This discovery opened up a whole new world of possible subjects for photography. In the days that followed, Talbot trained his camera on various features of Lacock Abbey and its grounds. Made only a few weeks after his September discovery, this photograph reveals Talbot's newly found ability to render the tones and textures of masonry and glass and the myriad architectural details of the sixteenth-century corner tower, built by the Abbey's first lay owner.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Top of Sharington's Tower, Lacock Abbey, Taken from the Roof above the South Gallery
  • Artist: William Henry Fox Talbot (British, Dorset 1800–1877 Lacock)
  • Date: October 14, 1840
  • Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
  • Dimensions: Image: 5 13/16 × 7 1/16 in. (14.7 × 17.9 cm), irregularly trimmed
    Sheet: 7 5/16 × 8 7/8 in. (18.6 × 22.6 cm), irregularly trimmed
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: The Rubel Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, and Anonymous Gifts, 1997
  • Object Number: 1997.382.2
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

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Scott Monument before Completion, Edinburgh, William Henry Fox Talbot British, Salted paper print from paper negative
Scott Monument before Completion, Edinburgh
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1844
Sun Pictures in Scotland
William Henry Fox Talbot
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A Scene in a Library, William Henry Fox Talbot British, Salted paper print from paper negative
A Scene in a Library
William Henry Fox Talbot
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A Fruit Piece, William Henry Fox Talbot British, Salted paper print from paper negative
A Fruit Piece
William Henry Fox Talbot
before June 1845
Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, William Henry Fox Talbot British, Salted paper print from paper negative
Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire
William Henry Fox Talbot
before September 1844

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