Talbot Photo 2(23)

Genre: Still Life Photography

One of four copies (prints 20-23) of this subject, a study of a broomstick resting against the jamb of a half-open door, with a window visible in the interior. Chemistry float-applied on paper 144 x 194 mm.

Also published as plate 6 of 'The Pencil of Nature', issued 29 January 1845, with the accompanying text reads, 'The chief object of the present work is to place on record some of the early beginnings of a new art, before the period, which we trust is approaching, of its being brought to maturity by the aid of British talent. This is one of the trifling efforts of its infancy, which some partial friends have been kind enough to commend. We have sufficient authority in the Dutch school of art, for taking as subjects of representation scenes of daily and familiar occurrence. A painter's eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. A casual gleam of sunshine, or a shadow thrown across his path, a time-withered oak, or a moss-covered stone may awaken a train of thoughts and feelings, and picturesque imaginings.'

For a discussion of this image, see Larry J. Schaaf, 'The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot' (Princeton University Press, Princeton and London, 2000), p. 196.