304
Even late in life Claudet was an ardent promoter of
photography, a focused scientist and artist and valued
Photography as a fi ne art. He wrote that being a pho-
tographer:
...requires thought, taste, judgement and refi nement,
to use with success the apparatus and the process, I
consider that there is as much art in the result as in any
of the so-called 3fi ne arts... The Photographic Journal
August 1861
Claudet died in 1867. Sadly a year after his death
there was a huge fi re at his studio, which destroyed
around 20.000 negatives, daguerreotypes and prints.
In August 1868, Basil Montague Pickering wrote ‘A.
Claudet FRS-A Memoir’.
Laura Claudet
Biography
Born at the Chateau de Rosay, Lyon, France in 1797.
Claudet moved to Paris to work as a banker in 1818 and
then to England in1827, to import glass. Established
manufacturing and wholesale company of glass ‘Claudet
and Houghton’ in 1834. Visited Daguerre in Paris and
bought a licence to practice Daguerreotype Photogra-
phy in 1839. ‘Claudet and Houghton’ sold photographs
and photographic equipment in their shop in 1840. In
the same year Claudet took some of the fi rst photos of
London. Opened daguerreotype portrait studio, ‘The
Adelaide Gallery’ in 1841. In the same year, Claudet read
his ‘Acceleration’ paper to the Academie des Sciences,
discussing his process which reduced exposure times
and Beard brought out court injunction against Claudet
which was dismissed. Claudet also patented painted
backgrounds, artifi cial lighting and the use of the red
light in the dark room. Invented the photographometer
in 1848. Invented the dynactometer in 1850. Opened
‘Temple of photography’ studio and exhibited daguerreo-
types and stereo daguerreotypes at the Great Exhibition
in 1851. In 1853 was made ‘Photographer in Ordinary’
to Queen Victoria, became member of the Royal Society
of London for the Advancement of Science and patented
the folding pocket stereoscope and the stereoscope with
adjustable tubes. Patented the revolving stereoscope
in 1855. Presented the stereomonoscope to the Royal
Society in 1858. Delivered lecture ‘On Photography in
its Relations to the Fine Arts’ at the Photographic Soci-
ety of Scotland in 1860. Made Chevalier de la Legion
d’honneur in France in 1865. Died in 1867.
Selected Works
Individual Exhibitions
1844, Palais de l’Industrie, Paris,(F).
1847, John Scott Russell’s Industrial Exhibition, the Society of
Arts (GB).
1851, Great Exhibition, The Crystal Palace, London (GB).
1855, Amsterdam Photographic exhibition, Received ‘Tentoon-
stelling van photographie’ prize.
1855, Exposition Universelle, Paris, First Class Medal.
1856, Photographic exhibition, Brussels.
1859, Exposition S.F.P.,Paris (F).
1861, Exposition S.F.P., Paris (F).
1861, Birmingham exhibition.
1862, London International exhibition (on Jury).
1863, London photographic exhibition.
1865, Dublin International exhibition (on Jury).Further Reading
Allwood, John The Great Exhibition. London: Studio Vista,
1977.
Briggs, Asa From Today Painting is Dead The beginnings of
Photography. London:The Arts Council, 1972.
Buerger, JE French Daguerreotypes. Chicago, 1989.
Coke, Joan Dissertation on A. Claudet. University of New
Mexico.
Ford, Colin Portraits The Library of World Photography. Thames
and Hudson.
Freud, Gisele Photography and Society. London: Gordon Fraser,
1980.
Gernsheim, Helmut, The Origins of Photography. Thames and
Hudson, 1982.
Gernsheim, Helmut, A History of Photography. London: Dover,
1986.
Hannavy, John, The Victorian Professional Photographer. UK:
Shire Publications Ltd.
Heyert, Elizabeth, The Glass House Years (Victorian Portrait Pho-
tography 1839–1870). Montclair and London, USA, 1979.
Hayworth-Booth, M., The Golden Age of British Photography
1839-1900. New York: Aperture, 1984.
Hillier, Bevis, Victorian Studio Photographs. UK: Ash and
Grant Ltd, 1975.
Jay, Bill, Cyanide and Spirits An inside-out View of Early Pho-
tography. Germany: Nazraeli Press, 1991.
Lassam, Robert, Portrait and the Camera. Studio Editions,
London, 1989.
Macdonald, Gus, Camera Eye. London: Witness BT Batsford
Ltd, 1979.
Newhall, Beaumont, The Daguerreotype in America. New York:
Dover, 1976.
Newhall, Beaumont, Photography Essays and Images. New York:
The Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
Pols, Robert, Understanding Old Photographs. UK: Robert Boyd
Publications, 1995.
Richter, Stefan (Introduction by Helmut Gernsheim), The Art of
the Daguerreotype. UK:Viking, 1989.
Thomas, Alan, The Expanding Eye Photography and the Nine-
teenth Century Mind. London: Croom Helm, 1978.
Wade, N.J., Brewster and Wheatstone on Vision. London, 1985.
Wood, John, The Daguerreotype (A Sesquentenial Celebration).
USA: University of Iowa Press, 1989.CLAUDET, FRANCIS GEORGE
(1837–1906)
Canadian photographerFrancis George Claudet, the youngest son of photogra-
pher-inventor Antoine Francois-Jean Claudet, was born