Discover the history of photography at the Fox Talbot Museum

Who was William Henry Fox Talbot?

One man’s scientific curiosity changed the way we see the world, forever. William Henry Fox Talbot was a polymath whose interests ranged across chemistry, botany, astronomy and mathematics, and a pioneer of Victorian photography.

Born in 1800, he was only five months old when he inherited Lacock Abbey. In 1835, he created the earliest surviving photographic negative, taken of a small window in the abbey’s South Gallery.

The first photographic negative

In the early 19th century, images could only be created through the medium of painting and drawing. Frustrated by his lack of artistic ability, William Henry Fox Talbot began searching for a way to 'fix images'.

After some experiments Talbot took an image of a window at his home, Lacock Abbey, in 1835. This image, not much bigger than a postage stamp, is now celebrated as the world’s earliest surviving photographic negative.

Talbot's reaction

Talbot notes that, 'When first made, the squares of glass about 200 in number could be counted'.

This tells us that when the image was first taken it was clear enough to be able to count all the individual panes of glass that make up the window. This window has not changed and can still be seen today inside the Abbey today.