In 1848, the Scottish scholar Sir William Stirling Maxwell created the world’s first photographically illustrated book on art by adding Talbotype (or calotype) illustrations to his Annals of the Artists of Spain. The photographs, by William Henry Fox Talbot’s assistant Nicholaas Henneman, faded soon after. Nevertheless, this ground-breaking volume pointed the way towards the use of photography in the study of art. This talk launches the publication of a facsimile and critical edition of the digitally reconstructed photographs. On display will be the related calotype negative (1847) by D O Hill and Robert Adamson of Velázquez’s Surrender of Breda, a highlight of this summer’s Stirling Maxwell exhibition at the Prado Museum, Madrid.
In association with the Stirling Maxwell Centre and Archives & Special Collections, University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow Library
Hillhead Street
Glasgow G12 8QE
0141 330 6767
