Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt
by John Jabez Edwin Mayall
daguerreotype, circa 1848
3 3/8 in. x 2 3/4 in. (86 mm x 70 mm)
Purchased with help from the Art Fund, 1996
Primary Collection
NPG P660
Sitterback to top
- Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Bt (1792-1871), Mathematician and astronomer; son of William Herschel. Sitter in 18 portraits, Artist or producer of 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1813-1901), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 509 portraits.
This portraitback to top
As a daguerreotype, this is a unique image and is the earliest recorded photograph of Herschel. Linking one of photography's scientific pioneers with one of its leading early practitioners, J.J.E. Mayall, it is of outstanding importance in the history of photography in Britain.
Linked publicationsback to top
- 100 Portraits, p. 67
- Cooper, John, A Guide to the National Portrait Gallery, 2009, p. 43 Read entry
Herschel was an astronomer and physicist who invented the photographic use of sensitised paper and coined the term ‘positive’ and ‘negative’. This daguerrotype of him is an important early image by Mayall, but represents a technology that the sitter helped to supercede.
- Funnell, Peter (introduction); Marsh, Jan, A Guide to Victorian and Edwardian Portraits, 2011, p. 24 Read entry
John Herschel (1792-1871) was a commanding figure in the Victorian scientific world who made outstanding discoveries in the fields of astronomy, mathematics, chemistry and optics and was the inventor of many early photographic processes. As a daguerreotype, this is a unique image and is the earliest recorded photograph of Herschel. This portrait links one of photography’s scientific pioneers with one of its leading early practitioners, J. J. E. Mayall. It is of outstanding importance in the history of photography.
- Jordanova, Ludmilla, Defining Features: Scientific and Medical Portraits 1660-2000, 2000 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 14 April to 17 September 2000), p. 18
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 299
- Various contributors, National Portrait Gallery: A Portrait of Britain, 2014, p. 162
Events of 1848back to top
Current affairs
Led by Feargus O'Connor, up to 50,000 Chartist members meet on Kennington Common, to form a procession and present another petition to Parliament. Although there was a large military and police presence, the rally was peaceful.Art and science
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood a group of English painters, poets and critics, is founded by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, intent on reforming art by rejecting the artists who imitated Raphael and Michelangelo. Instead, they advocated a return to a close observation of nature, invested with the intense detail, colours, and compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art, producing works layered with symbolism.International
Following the fall of the French monarchy, revolutions take place in France, Germany and Italy, provoked by a widespread desire for political independence from repressive regimes, and a range of economic problems which had caused unemployment, food shortages and poverty. Louis Napoleon becomes the first President of France's Second Republic.The first gold rush takes place in America, after gold is found on the Sacramento river, California.
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