1051
Sandra Petrillo, ‘‘La photographie panoramique au XIXe siècle :
le regard qui balaie l’espace,’’ Coré, no. 2, mars 1997.
PANUNZI, BENITO (1819–1894)
Nothing is known of his whereabouts before he arrived
in Argentina.
He was a painter and architectural draughtsman, and
is known to have taught drawing. The fi rst national cen-
sus (1869) records him as an Italian, 50 years old, single,
a photographer with a studio at 55th Cuyo Street, Buenos
Aires. The studio was named “Fotografía Artística.”
He published country views, mostly from Buenos
Aires and surroundings, accompanying them with a nice
paper folder (583 mm by 430 mm), titled: Fotografía
Artística—Album de Vistas y Costumbres de Buenos
Aires. The images then were bound in albums.
The earliest known dated photograph is from 1868
(the seventh one), so, usually it is supposed that he
started keping records not too before 1866. Usually he
received, wrongly, the authorship of a small and crude
album Vedute di Buenos Aires.
Excellent copies of his works are kept in Archivo
Audiovisual de Venezuela—Biblioteca Nacional and
private Argentine collections.
Roberto Ferrari
PAPER AND PHOTOGRAPHIC PAPER
Paper has played an essential part in photography ini-
tially in the late 1830s and 1840s as a support medium
for both the negative and positive, and increasingly from
the 1850s, as the principal means of producing a posi-
tive, on commercially produced photographic papers.
During the initial period the quality of the paper was
crucial to the end result while later on it was mainly a
support to new photographic emulsions and printing
processes being developed.
During the period up to the early 1850s, paper for
photographic use was usually selected and coated by the
photographer, although some retailer’s such as London’s
Horne, Thornthwaite and Wood offered pre-iodised,
waxed and albumenised papers. All the manuals of the
period and instructions to amateurs gave clear advice
on selecting paper for photographic use.
W.H. Thornthwaite writing in 1853 stated: ‘There
are various kinds of paper I have found well suited
for the purpose, but that manufactured expressly by
Turner, the blue wove of Whatman, and the positive
paper of Carson Frères, of Paris, appear to produce the
best results.’ He continued: ‘those sheets only are to be
employed which are of an even texture and free from
specks and water-marks; these specks should be care-
fully avoided, as they are generally small particles of
iron left in the substance of the paper during the process
of manufacture, and which, brought in contact with any
salt of silver, speedily produce a brown stain on the paper
of considerable size. The suitableness and quality of the
paper is best ascertained by holding each sheet opposite
a strong light, either of a window or lamp, and when
approved a pencil mark should be made on one side of
each sheet for the purpose of distinguishing it when
required.’ Thomas Sutton in his Calotype Process (1855)
recommended Hollingsworth paper for negatives which
he had specially made for the purpose of negatives. He
described it: ‘It is truly excellent, giving intense blacks,
fi ne defi nition and beautiful half-tones. It improves by
age; and, in fact, it is not in fi rst-rate condition until it
has been made for a year or two’.
These statements make a number of wider points
about papers. There was general agreement that English
papers were preferable to those of foreign manufacture.
W.H.F. Talbot and his employees used J. Whatman
Turkey Mill papers made at Hollingsworth’s Mill at
Maidstone, Kent, and R. Turner’s Chafford Mill was
also recommended. English papers were generally sized
with gelatine while foreign papers were sized with starch
leading to a better quality and improved light sensitivity
through the organic compounds present in gelatine, a
fact which was realised later and made use of.
The quality of the weave of the paper and effect on
wet strength and fi ner ‘grain’ of the paper was crucial
in producing more detailed negatives and chemical
cleanliness all had a bearing on the quality of the fi nal
image. J.B. Hockin in his Practical Hints on Photogra-
phy (1860) recommended English papers for Calotype
photography and French paper, notably that made by
Canson Frères, which was sized with starch, as being
best for the waxed paper process.
There were other requirements for printing papers
and other preferences amongst contemporary writers.
Sutton stated that ‘the paper commonly employed for
positives is that manufactured in France by Messrs Can-
son frères’ and he preferred the heavier weight although
it was, he said, more inclined to chemical spotting
than the lighter weight. He expanded on this by saying
that the papers manufactured by Turner and Whatman
although more sensitive than the Canson frères had a
courser grain leading to poorer defi nition in the fi nal
Calotype print.
Hockin describing the printing of collodion negatives
detailed what was required from the paper: ‘that it be
fi ne and close grained, with a very smooth surface, and
suffi ciently permeable to the liquids employed, without
being rendered by them prone to be readily torn during
the long series of washings and manipulations to which
it is to be subjected. It should also be free from any
“water-mark,” and most especially free from metallic
or other particles which induce ineradicable defects in
the pictures.’ Different qualities were required from the