395
devised. It was less expensive to produce than the da-
guerreotype, and had the added benefi t of providing a
single glass negative from which multiple positive pho-
tographic prints could be generated. By 1854 de la Rue
had succeeded in producing well-defi ned photographic
images of the surface of the moon which would not be
bettered until the 1960s. The cameras he used to capture
these images, which would have been attached to his
13-inch refl ecting telescope, are held by the Museum of
the History of Science at the University of Oxford. Ste-
reoscopic views de la Rue’s lunar photographs were later
made commercially available to the general public.
In 1854 de la Rue was approached by Kew Observa-
tory, who had in turn been contacted by John Herschel,
who had convinced Kew of the need for daily photo-
graphs of the surface of the sun. For this purpose de la
Rue invented a telescopic device known as a photohe-
liograph for the purpose of taking photographs of the
surface of the sun. The device was built by the noted
camera maker, Andrew Ross, to de la Rue’s specifi ca-
tions. An eyepiece was used to project an enlarged
image onto a wet collodion plate. In this way, on sunny
days, over 2700 photographs were taken of the surface
of the sun at the observatory at Kew between (March)
1858 and 1872, and then, using the same device, from
the Royal Observatory at Greenwich from 1873 until
- The images produced were approximately ten
centimetres in diameter and clearly showed sunspots
and faculae. The original photoheliograph is now held
by the Science Museum in London.
From 1856 to 1862, de la Ruepublished papers on
chemistry in collaboration with Dr Hugo Muller twice
President of the Chemical Society.
In 1860 de la Rue took his photoheliograph to
Rivabellosa, in Spain, to record a total eclipse on the
18 July. Luckily, the sky was clear for the event and of
the thirty-fi ve good plates that de la Rue secured, one
was a particularly stunning image of ‘totality.’ This
image, when considered in conjunction with another
photograph of the eclipse taken by Secchi 400km to
the south east of where de la Rue was based, provided
conclusive evidence that the corona that becomes visible
during a total eclipse belongs to the sun, rather than to
the moon. In 1862 de la Rue received the Gold Medal
from Royal Astronomical Society and was its President
from 1864 to 1866. In 1864 he was awarded the Royal
medal from the Royal Society. From 1868 to 1883 he
investigated the discharge of electricity through gases
by means of a battery of over fourteen thousand silver
chloride cells, which he invented for the process.
By 1873 de la Rue’s eyesight was failing. He sold
his observatory and gifted most of his equipment to the
University of Oxford. By then he had discovered over
fi ve hundred nebulae. He died in London on the 19 April - A crater on the north-east portion of the near side
of the moon measuring 134 metres in diameter has since
been named after him.
Brian LiddyDE MEYER, BARON ADOLPH
(1868–1946)
Photographer and writerBaron Adolph de Meyer, as a photographer, was noted
for his magnifi cent backlighting and elegant soft focus
techniques, as a well as for his modernist experiments in
his layouts and graphic design in his years at Harper’s
Bazar. (In 1929 the magazine became Harper’s Bazaar.)
The biographical details of de Meyer’s life are not to-
tally verifi ed, since de Meyer is said to have fabricated
certain details about his existence, often depending on
the circumstances, depending upon what social circles
he might fi nd himself in. Gregarious and charming, de
Meyer was socially adept in various settings.
The chronology listed here is primarily taken from
two sources: “The Collection of Alfred Stieglitz: Fifty
Pioneers of Modern Photography” by Weston Naef
and “De Meyer: A Singular Elegance” by Anne Eh-
renkranz.
In the 1880s, as de Meyer was coming of age, the
new artistic currents of Symbolism and Impression-
ism were to have signifi cant infl uence on the young
de Meyer, just beginning to experiment with a camera.
De Meyer’s correspondence and friendship with Alfred
Stieglitz, editor, photographer, and gallery owner, who
was to fi ght tirelessly for the cause of photography as
a Fine Art, was to serve as catalyst and support for de
Meyer. The Secessionist exhibits in the United States
and Europe were illustrative of amateur photographers’
attempts in a variety of countries, to elevate photography
from a solely documentary, technical medium to an
aesthetic, artistic medium.
De Meyer’s purchase, in 1903, of a special Pinkerton-
Smith lens, ground sharply in the center, producing a soft
focus effect, allowed him to produce dramatic, shadowy
effects that evoked mystery and nuance. His photographs
such as“The Shadows in the Wall—Chrysanthemums,”
c. 1906 (Metropolitan Museum of New York, Alfred
Stieglitz Collection), or “Glass and Shadows,” c.1909
(Baltimore Museum of Art), are works that carry the
viewer into a transcendent realm that is ethereal and
suggestive.
Stieglitz’s decision to include de Meyer in two
“Camera Work” issues, as well as to include him in
Photo- Secessionist exhibits at his 291 Fifth Avenue,
New York City gallery, was important for de Meyer.
De Meyer’s solo show at the Photo-Secession gal-
leries, opening in February 1909, included four still
lifes and three portraits. Issue number 40 of “Camera