A French Inventor

First Photo, Niépce and Daguerre

Nicéphore Niépce (1765 – 1833) a French inventor, one of the inventors of photography and a true pioneer in the field of the permanent image. He is recognized as producing the world’s first photograph in 1827 – the actual year varies from different references from 1822 to 1827. Niépce took what is believed to be the world’s first photogravure etching, in 1822 of an engraving of Pope Pius VII, but the original was later destroyed when he attempted to duplicate it. The earliest surviving photogravure etchings by Niépce are of a 17th century engraving of a man with a horse and of an engraving of a woman with a spinning wheel. Niépce did not have a steady enough hand to trace the inverted images created by the camera obscura, as was popular in his day, so he looked for a way to capture an image permanently. He experimented...Niepce Article Excerpted from Retro-Vintage-Bazaar and Continued Here