The Chess Players
William Henry Fox Talbot (English, 1800–1877)
c. 1843/47
- Medium
- Salted paper print
- Classification
- Photograph
- Dimensions
- 19.9 × 15 cm (7 7/8 × 5 15/16 in.)
- Culture
- England
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Photography and Media
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Everett Kovler
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The negative-positive process created by William Henry Fox Talbot, and the possibilities for reproduction that it introduced, dominated photography until the digital age. Talbot’s initial experiments show both his interest in science (as he worked to refine his process) and his artistic aspirations. Scholars have confirmed that Talbot took 10 or more views of chess players, yet this one—likely of noted photographer Antoine Claudet and Talbot’s assistant Nicolaas Henneman—may not be his. This print and other variants of the same scene are unsigned, and on a different paper from Talbot’s normal stock. Recent scholarship posits that the images might have been made in Claudet’s studio before ending up in Henneman’s possession; this print could have entered Talbot’s holdings when Henneman gave him prints as payment toward a debt.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
