The revised online edition of Niépce, correspondance et papiers is a compilation of over 700 documents from more than 50 archives spread all over the world. Footnotes give thousands of references; its index of names amounts to more than 3,000; equipped with a multi-criteria search engine.
Historical bits and pieces are revealed, family secrets unveiled — the collage of scientific history turns the confidences of Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) into a captivating story.
The museum Maison Nicéphore Niépce is happy to announce the online publication of Niépce-Correspondance et papiers with the sponsorship of the Académie des sciences and the Académie des beaux-arts, the largest number of documents ever collected on the inventor of photography (1765-1833).
On the occasion of the bicentennial of the invention of photography in 2024, find on page 707 the letter dated September 16, 1824, in which Nicéphore Niépce writes to his brother Claude: “I am pleased to finally be able to announce to you that, thanks to the refinement of my processes, I have succeeded in obtaining a view as I had wished for, though I scarcely dared to hope for it, as until now, my results had been very incomplete. This view was taken from your room facing Le Gras; and for this purpose, I used my largest camera obscura and my largest plate. The image of the objects is rendered with astonishing clarity and fidelity, down to the finest details and their most delicate shades. Since this counter-proof is almost uncolored, one can best appreciate its effect by looking at the plate obliquely: it is then that it becomes perceptible to the eye, through the shadows and light reflections; and this effect, I must say, my dear friend, truly has something magical about it. (…) In the meantime, you can, as of today, consider the success of applying my processes to views, whether on stone or on glass, as a demonstrated and indisputable fact.”
