Inscriptions in a double sense: the biography of an early scientific photograph of script

• Autores: Mirjam Brusius
• Localización: Nuncius: annali di storia della scienza, ISSN 0394-7394, Vol. 24, Nº. 2, 2009, págs. 367-392
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • In 1846 a photograph of a drawing of an Eyptian inscription in hieroglyphics was printed in the workshop of Wiliam Henry Fox Talbot who not only invented the Calotype, but was also an ambitious Antiquarian. Even thought the photograph did not render the original Egyptian inscription but only a drawing, the so-called "the Talbotype applied to hieroglypthics" became a landmark as a scientific image. It was the first instance of the use of photography in the field of Egyptology. Despite Talbot's earlier attempts to convince scholars to use photography in the field, the archaelogists and trustees of the British Museum were not immedialety convinced. This paper will explore the early debates about the use of photography for archaelogical research and explain why " The Talbotype applied to Hieroglyptics" stands out in a period which could be described as the delayed career of the photographic image in archaeology. (Abstract obtingut de l'article)