HF The History of Photography 600pág

The daguerreotype in German-speaking countries 161
$ammlune uon lidJtbilbnn,
mriltnul
orttiitt aad) btm 2cbca.
C!lcfrrti91 im !111 1, 3uni uo Juli 1840,
;t. la l
J. P. )(r11tin9,
....,, ••• et. 5•llta .
•
Fig 1 6 Title-page of catalogue of the first
exhibition of photographic portraits, August 1840
By April of the following year Isenring was the proud owner of a 'Sonnenwagen' -
the earliest photographic carriage we know of, fitted up as living and sleeping
quarters as well as studio and darkroom. This enabled him to extend his business
activities as an itinerant daguerreotypist to southern Germany, Upper Austria and
northern Switzerland. It was probably Isenring's daguerreotype portraits that Hans
Andersen saw on a journey to southern Germany about 1841. They were the first
daguerreotype portraits he had seen, 'made in ten minutes . ... It seemed to me like
magic . ... The daguerreotype and the railway, these two new flowers of the present
age, were to me already a benefit of the journey. '17
FRANZISKA MOLLINGER of Solothurn travelled all over Switzerland taking views,
fifteen of which she published copied as lithographs in l 844-45 under the title
Daguerreotypierte Ansichten der Hauptstddte und der schonsten Gegenden der Schweiz.
About this time CARL DURHEIM, a lithographer in Berne, learned the daguerreotype
process from a visiting Frenchman. In 1845 he opened a daguerreotype studio
there, but in l 849 changed to the paper process-as did also J. B. lsenring.
In tracing the history of the daguerreotype in France, America, England, and
German-speaking countries, we have concentrated on the nations which made important
contributions both to the technique and aesthetics of the new art. To describe
the introduction of the daguerreotype in other countries would be monotonous and
add nothing essential to the understanding of its history and development. By
1842-43 all European capitals and large towns had one or more portrait studios, or
at least were visited by itinerant photographers. With the exception of England and
France, daguerreotype portraiture in Europe continued until about l 860. In these
countries, the life of the daguerreotype was shorter on account of the advantages
offered by the collodion process published by Frederick Scott Archer in 185 l.