Antoine Claudet | |
|---|---|
 Claudet in 1850 | |
| Born | Antoine François Jean Claudet (1797-08-18)18 August 1797 La Croix-Rousse, France |
| Died | 17 September 1867(1867-09-17) (aged 70) London, England, UK |
| Resting place | Highgate Cemetery |
| Occupation | Photographer |
| Years active | 1841−1858 |
| Known for | Pioneering photography |
| Spouse | Julia Claudet |
| Children | Francis George Claudet |
Antoine François Jean Claudet (August 18, 1797 – December 27, 1867) was a Frenchphotographer andartist active inLondon who produceddaguerreotypes.
Claudet was born inLa Croix-Rousse, France, the son of Claude Claudet, a cloth merchant and Etiennette Julie Montagnat.[1][2]
Early in his career Claudet headed a glass factory atChoisy-le-Roi,Paris, together withGeorges Bontemps, and moved toEngland to promote the factory with a shop inHigh Holborn,London. Having acquired a share inL. J. M. Daguerre's invention, he became one of England's first commercial photographers using thedaguerreotype process forportraiture, improving the sensitizing process by usingchlorine (instead ofbromine) in addition toiodine, thus gaining greater rapidity of action.[3]
He invented the reddarkroomsafelight, and it was he who suggested the idea of using a series of photographs to create the illusion of movement. The idea of using painted backdrops has also been attributed to him.
From 1841 to 1851 he operated a studio on the roof of theAdelaide Gallery (now the Nuffield Centre), behindSt. Martin's in the Fields church,London, where in 1843 he took one of only two surviving photographs ofAda Lovelace. He opened additional studios at the Colosseum,Regent's Park (1847–1851) and in 1851 he moved his entire business to 107Regent Street, where he established what he called a "Temple to Photography".[4]
It has been estimated that he made 1,800 pictures every year with subjects includingMichael Faraday andCharles Babbage.[5] His daguerreotype ofHemi Pomara, in theNational Library of Australia, is the oldest knownphotograph of anyMāori person.[6][7]
In 1848 he produced thephotographometer, an instrument designed to measure the intensity of photogenic rays; and in 1849 he brought out thefocimeter, for securing a perfect focus in photographic portraiture.[3][8]
He was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society in 1853, and in 1858 he produced thestereomonoscope, in reply to a challenge fromSir David Brewster.[3]
Claudet received many honours, among which was the appointment, in 1853, as "Photographer-in-ordinary" toQueen Victoria, and the award, ten years later, of an honor fromNapoleon III of France.
Antoine and Julia Claudet had eight children, the youngest of whom wasFrancis George Claudet (1837–1906) who became a noted amateur photographer in Canada.[9]
Antoine Claudet died inLondon in 1867 and is buried inHighgate Cemetery. Less than a month after his death, his "Temple to photography" was burnt down, and most of his valuable photographs were lost.[10]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Claudet, Antoine François Jean".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 463.