William Henry Fox Talbot

On July 7, 2025 - 19th Century, English, february 11

William Henry Fox Talbot, February 11, 1800–September 17, 1877, was a British photographer, scientist, and writer. Born at Melbury House in Dorset, he was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. His mother, Elisabeth Theresa Feilding, took an active role in his early education. He lived at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire.

Talbot began his photographic experiments in the 1830s. He developed photogenic drawing and the calotype, a paper negative process that allowed multiple positive prints from one negative. He shared scientific interests and correspondence with John Herschel and David Brewster, and announced his photographic process in 1839.

His photographs appeared in The Pencil of Nature (1844–1846), an early book illustrated with original photographs, and Sun Pictures in Scotland (1845). He died at Lacock Abbey. His work is held by the National Science and Media Museum, the British Library, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among other collections.

Karl Bodmer

On March 21, 2025 - 19th Century, february 11, Swiss

Karl Bodmer, February 11, 1809–October 30, 1893, was a Swiss painter and printmaker. Born in Zurich, he studied drawing and painting with his uncle, Johann Jakob Meyer, a landscape painter and engraver. He later traveled and worked in the Rhine and Moselle regions.

In 1832–1834, Bodmer accompanied Prince Maximilian of Wied on an expedition to North America, producing landscapes and portraits. His drawings and watercolors supplied the basis for the aquatint illustrations of Maximilian’s published account. He settled in Paris in 1836 and moved to Barbizon in 1849, where he associated with Jean-François Millet and Théodore Rousseau.

Joslyn Art Museum holds the collection of Bodmer’s North American expedition watercolors and drawings received in 1986. Other works are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Bodmer died in Paris.