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Constance Fox Talbot

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British photographer (1811–1880)

Constance Fox Talbot
Constance Fox Talbot, circa 1840,
photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot
BornConstance Mundy
(1811-01-30)30 January 1811
Markeaton Hall, Markeaton, Derbyshire, England, UK
Died9 September 1880(1880-09-09) (aged 69)
London, England, UK
Resting placeLacock Cemetery, Lacock, Wiltshire, England, UK
NationalityBritish
Known forPhotography
SpouseWilliam Henry Fox Talbot

Constance Talbot (née Mundy, 30 January 1811 – 9 September 1880) was an English artist credited as the first woman ever to take a photograph – a hazy image of a short verse by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

Constance, who came from Markeaton in Derbyshire, was the youngest daughter of Francis Mundy (1771–1837), Member of Parliament for that county from 1822 to 1831.

She married William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the key players in the development of photography in the 1830s and 1840s, in 1832. In 1833, during their honeymoon in Italy, her husband realised that her artistic abilities were superior to his, and began to develop a method to capture a view without draughtsmanship, which led to the negative-positive process of photography.

She briefly experimented with the process herself as early as 1839.

Her watercolours and drawings remained hidden at Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot's home, until they were digitised by the National Trust and made publicly available.

References

  1. "Constance Mundy Talbot", Find a Grave. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  2. Maev Kennedy, "Bodleian Library launches £2.2m bid to stop Fox Talbot archive going overseas", The Guardian, 9 December 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  3. ^ Nannavy, John (1997). Fox Talbot. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications Ltd. p. 7. ISBN 0-7478-0351-X.
  4. "Derbyshire", The History of Parliament. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  5. ^ Mark Bridge (1 December 2020). "Artistic jealousy that inspired William Henry Fox Talbot to develop photography". The Times. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  6. Buckland, Gail (1980). Fox Talbot and the invention of photography. D. R. Godine. ISBN 978-0-87923-307-5.
  7. "The Watercolour Project". The National Trust. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
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