The Oriel Window, South Gallery, Lacock Abbey is an early calotype photographic print created by William Henry Fox Talbot around roughly 1935.
The photograph consists of the view through the diamond-panel oriel window of William's house. He created this piece solely with light and chemicals, he brushed a piece of writing paper with salt and silver nitrate and placed it in a small wooden camera, stationed on a mantel opposite to the window. He then left it to expose, which may have taken a few hours. The image is tonally reversed, in other words a negative photograph, although the term was not coined during this time. The paper darkened the most where it recorded the bright light of the windows, therefore any spots that were highly exposed turned the darkest. A negative photograph has inverted colours, so any dark spots would appear brighter and vice versa. The print is currently located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. |