| Dates: | 1821 - ? | | Active: | Scotland |
Preparing biographies
In 1857 the veteran Scottish photographer James Ross recalled: “My attention was first drawn to this subject from the circumstance of the very first calotype I ever had in my hand vanishing from my sight while admiring it. It had been merely washed, probably in common salt. This took place some fourteen or fifteen years ago, when in conjunction with Mr. Bishop, a very able chemist, I made my first experiments in the art. We soon, or rather I should say my fellow worker soon, mastered the negatives completely.” No chemist or pharmacist by the name of Bishop has been traced in the Edinburgh directories. However, the 1844 – 45 directory shows a Robert Bishop, an engraver on wood, sharing No. 23 Lauriston Place with James Ross, portrait painter and future photographer. It would not be surprising for someone involved in the printing industry, such as this engraver, to also be an able amateur chemist.
Roger Taylor & Larry J. Schaaf Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007)
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 4 Nov 2012.
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