Getty Museum

[Lace Glove]

Date

about 1843–1846

Medium

Cyanotype

Culture

French

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Object ID

55aa333d-31e5-465e-b1fc-7b2871cae0bc

Hippolyte Bayard, an early inventor of photography, did not limit himself to creating images using the three processes that he himself had devised. As new methods were announced, he frequently explored them. The cyanotype process was invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), the eminent British astronomer, mathematician, and chemist. The cyanotype is easily recognized by its distinctive Prussian blue background that is a result of the use of two iron salts: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide. Bayard made this cyanotype without the aid of a camera by laying the glove directly on top of a ordinary piece of writing paper that had been coated with the iron salts and then dried. He probably secured the paper and glove under a piece of glass before placing the package out in the sun for five to fifteen minutes. The exposed parts of the paper turned a stunning blue, while the parts covered by the lacey glove remained white. By washing the sheet of paper in water, the developing process was stopped and the image fixed (made permanent). This cyanotype offers a number of clues to Bayard’s working process. Upon close examination of the uneven edges of the glove, it appears that Bayard cut the palm layer of lace off so that he could place just one thin layer of lace upon the sensitized sheet of paper. This allowed the light to more easily penetrate the small openings of the lace and better define the intricate design of the glove. In several areas in the fingers of the glove, the lace has folded under itself, creating a density that compromises the delicacy of the lace. These areas show how the whole composition might have turned out if the palm of the glove had been left attached as well. The vertical white line running down the left side may mark where the plate of glass laying atop the glove and paper ended. Finally, the brown staining along the bottom edge of the glove is most likely evidence of an accident that occurred after the image was made. Bayard may have inadvertently spilled some chemicals that he used in other photographic processes onto this cyanotype. Carolyn Peter, J. Paul Getty Museum, Department of Photographs 2019>

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