View from the Window at Le Gras
Photographer: Nicéphore Niépce
Date: 1826 or 1827
Location: Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, Burgundy, France
Nicéphore Niépce created this heliograph — the oldest surviving photograph — from an upstairs window of his estate Le Gras in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, Burgundy, France, in 1826 or 1827. The exposure required approximately eight hours, resulting in sunlight illuminating both sides of the buildings (as the sun moved across the sky during the exposure). The image shows rooftops, a courtyard, and open countryside. It was made on a pewter plate coated with bitumen of Judea, a naturally occurring asphalt that hardened when exposed to light. The plate was acquired by historian Helmut Gernsheim in 1952 and is now held at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The original is difficult to view without specialized lighting.
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