[Lacock Abbey] 1839 - 1840

“[Lacock Abbey]” (1839-1840) is a calotype photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot, a pioneer in the field of photography. This image, housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, exemplifies Talbot's innovative process, which used paper coated with silver salts to capture an image. While this specific image is a blank negative, it speaks to Talbot's experimentation in early photography. The dark brown tone and the faint outline of the image frame highlight the unique qualities of calotype, capturing the very essence of the medium's nascent stage.