Niepce, Joseph Nicéphore

SUBJECT AREA: Photography, film and optics

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b. 1765 France

d. 5 July 1833 Chalon, France

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French inventor who was the first to produce permanent photographic images with the aid of a camera.

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Coming from a prosperous family, Niepce was educated in a Catholic seminary and destined for the priesthood. The French Revolution intervened and Niepce became an officer in an infantry regiment. An attack of typhoid fever in Italy ended his military career, and he returned to France and was married. Returning to his paternal home in Chalon in 1801, he joined with his brother Claude to construct an ingenious engine called the pyréolophore, which they patented in 1807. The French Government also encouraged the brothers in their attempts to produce large quantities of indigo-blue dye from wood, a venture that was ultimately unsuccessful.

Nicéphore began to experiment with lithography, which led him to take an interest in the properties of light-sensitive materials. He pursued this interest after Claude moved to Paris in 1816 and is reported to have made negative images in a camera obscura using paper soaked in silver chloride. Niepce went on to experiment with bitumen of judea, a substance that hardened on exposure to light. In 1822, using bitumen of judea on glass, he produced a heliograph from an engraving. The first images from nature may have been made as early as 1824, but the world's earliest surviving photographic image was made in 1826. A view of the courtyard of Niepce's home in Chalon was captured on a pewter plate coated with bitumen of judea; an exposure of several hours was required, the softer parts of the bitumen being dissolved away by a solvent to reveal the image.

In 1827 he took examples of his work to London where he met Francis Bauer, Secretary of the Royal Society. Nothing came of this meeting, but on returning to France Niepce continued his work and in 1829 entered into a formal partnership with L.J.M. Daguerre with a view to developing their mutual interest in capturing images formed by the camera obscura. However, the partnership made only limited progress and was terminated by Niepce's death in 1833. It was another six years before the announcement of the first practicable photographic processes was made.

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Bibliography

1973. Joseph Nicéphore Niepce lettres 1816–7, Pavillon de Photographie du Parc Naturel, Régional de Brotonne.

1974, Joseph Nicéphore Niepce correspondences 1825–1829, Pavillon de Photographie du Parc Naturel, Régional de Brotonne.

Further Reading

J.M.Eder, 1945, History of Photography, trans. E. Epstean, New York (provides a full account of Niepce's life and work).

H.Gernsheim and A.Gernsheim, 1969, The History of Photography, rev. edn, London (provides a full account of Niepce's life and work).

JW