THE ART OF LIVING

Travellers’ Inspiration
Created in the early 1850s, these rare albumen and salt prints would have been among the earliest images of this sort to capture monuments or scenery in the Holy Land and the Middle East. With the then recent development of photography and increasing fascination with foreign cultures, the 19th century inspired new opportunities to travel and learn about foreign civilisations. Photographs such as these might have been published in travel journals, igniting the curiosity of late 19th-century tourists. Some of the views are signed in the negative by the Austrian Otto von Ostheim; the photographer had established a studio in Jerusalem and followed the travels of the comte de Chambord and the duc d’Orléans.

Sunlight and egg whites
Albumen prints take their name from the use of egg whites in the developing process invented in 1850.The protein in the egg whites binds the chemical, silver nitrate, to the paper resulting in a photosensitive sheet. Placing this coated paper in contact with a negative and exposing it to light would produce a clear and well defined print. These prints are not only remarkable for their content and excellent condition, but also for their impressive size which allows for great detail. Thirteen of the prints on offer depict the Holy Land, and will be presented as one lot, while the remaining three illustrate scenes from the Ottoman Empire and will be sold as a separate lot.