The earliest pioneering works of photography

Anna atkins, a British botanist and photographer in the19th century, captured the exquisite beauty of seaweed with her blue-green body. The picture shows the monitor lizard (left) and geranium (right). (Provided by the National Museum of the Netherlands) The National Museum of the Netherlands recently announced that it has obtained a photographic work for the first time: this is the first book with photos, and it is recognized as the first botanist in Britain to conduct photographic experiments. Their book Anna Atkins (Anna Atkins, 1799- 187 1), Photographs of British Algae: Types of Cyanobacteria, is a rare19th century plant volume, which Atkins published himself in 1844.

This book contains 307 pictures of algae native to Britain and its surrounding waters, illustrating the species of cyanobacteria for the first time. This early photographic printing form, also known as "blueprint", was discovered in 1842. It uses chemicals and sunlight to form a negative image of the outline of an object on a blue background. In a statement, officials of the British National Museum said that Atkins had produced several editions of "photos of British algae", of which about 20 complete and incomplete photos were still preserved. The representative of the museum said in a statement, [amazing photos of plants taken by Carl Brusfield]

"anna atkins's works are between art and science." . Apart from their "historical significance", Atkins' images are characterized by their eternal beauty, which looks contemporary because the silhouette on photographic paper is abstract. "

According to the statement, this book will be exhibited in the upcoming exhibition "New Reality:/Kloc-Photography in the 9th Century" at the National Museum of Japan, from June to September 17. [View gorgeous blue photos]

The blue type is to treat the paper with ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide (ferric salt is dissolved in water), and then put the object on the paper and expose it to the sun. This process forms a compound called Prussian Blue. The digital library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) explained in the description of "Photo of British Algae" published on its website that when the paper was washed, the spots not touched by objects (and spots treated with iron salts) turned dark blue.

Atkins learned about the species of cyanobacteria from her father. A scientist of the Royal Society discovered this process, and she soon realized that this technology fully met her needs for taking detailed images of fine aquatic plants.

"It is as difficult to draw an object accurately as it is to draw many algae," which prompted me to use Sir John Herschel's beautiful blue process to get an impression of the plant itself, "Atkins wrote in the introduction of her book in June 1843+00.

According to the official of the National Museum, she produced thousands of cyanobacteria for several versions of her book, which took 65,438+00 years. Museum officials said that the museum bought the book from the private owner for 450,000 euros (503,478 US dollars).

Although the public can enjoy this historical masterpiece as part of the Rijk *** useum exhibition, visitors cannot fully read the page of this work. For those who want to have a closer look at all 307 beautiful blue-green fonts in this book, you can get a scanned "photo of British algae" online on the digital collection website of the New York Public Library.

This is an original article about life science.