id: 159058 accession number: 1995.26 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.26 updated: 2023-03-15 15:46:23.126000 Scolopendrium Vulgare, 1852–54. Anna Atkins (British, 1799–1871). Cyanotype; image: 33.3 x 22.9 cm (13 1/8 x 9 in.); paper: 48.3 x 37.5 cm (19 x 14 3/4 in.); matted: 61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1995.26 title: Scolopendrium Vulgare title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1852–54 creation date earliest: 1852 creation date latest: 1854 current location: creditline: Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: cyanotype department: Photography collection: PH - British 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Anna Atkins (British, 1799–1871) - artist Anna Atkins British, 1799-1871 Anna Atkins was the daughter of John George Children, a respected scientist associated with the British Museum and secretary of the Royal Society, who introduced her to science and its small, tightly knit community in Britain. Taking advantage of her father's position as a member of the society's Committee on Papers, Atkins was among the first to hear directly of Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre's announcement of photography, as well as that of William Henry Fox Talbot, who disclosed the details of his own process to a meeting of the committee in February 1839. In 1842 another family friend, Sir John Herschel, whose early work in photography played a key role in its development in Britain, sent John Children a copy of his paper on the invention of the cyanotype. Combining her interests in botany, illustration, and the new cyanotype, the following year Atkins began production of the serial volumes of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions (1843-53). This work is generally credited as the first photographically illustrated book, preceding by a year the first fascicles of Talbot's better known Pencil of Nature (1844-46). Atkins, whose earlier hand illustrations had accompanied her father's translation of Jean de Lamarck's Genera of Shells, intended British Algae as a companion to William Harvey's Manual of British Algae (1841). The finished work comprised a brief text and almost 400 captioned cyanotype plates. Atkins, possibly in conjunction with her friend Anne Dixon, went on to produce several more albums whose subjects included plants, ferns, feathers, and lace, all subjects popular with early experimenters in cameraless photography. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 33.3 x 22.9 cm (13 1/8 x 9 in.); Paper: 48.3 x 37.5 cm (19 x 14 3/4 in.); Matted: 61 x 50.8 cm (24 x 20 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in negative: "Scolopendrium Vulgare"; in pencil on verso: "87"; "1.8"; "1258.4"; MC" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art." --- PROVENANCE Anne Dixon date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: In 1843, Anna Atkins produced the first book illustrated with photographs. The book was the earliest use of photography in a scientific publication. An amateur botanist, Atkins overcame the difficulties of making accurate drawings by placing plants directly on light-sensitive paper and exposing them to light. With these cameraless photographs, later called photograms, she was able to carefully record the basic elements of a plant's line, shape, and texture. This example illustrates a specimen of Scolopendrium Vulgare, also known as Hart's-Tongue fern. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 89 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.26/1995.26_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.26/1995.26_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.26/1995.26_full.tif