| Dates: | 1792 - 1880 | | Active: | UK |
Preparing biographies
Encouraged by his mother’s keen interest in natural history, Bell became equally important as an amateur scientist as in his chosen profession of dental surgery. Bell established his practice in London and was appointed professor of zoology at King’s College and lecturer on anatomy at Guy’s Hospital. He held a number of positions in learned societies, always promoting the emerging field of zoology. The first president of the Ray Society, Bell was named president of the Linnean Society in 1859, and by this time his interest in photography had become apparent. Bell explained in the Photographic Journal his special method for handling paper negatives once they had been exposed and developed: “Having completed the waxed-paper negative as usual,” he trimmed the negative a little smaller than a sheet of glass. A starch solution was then used to adhere the negative to the glass and next the paper was varnished. Bell observed that “the negative will now be found to possess a transparency and sharpness such as it had not before, and in the printing the positives will have an intensity and definition far superior to those taken from the unprepared waxed paper.” None of his photographs are known to have survived.
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.
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT
We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial.
If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible. |
|
| | Premium content for those who want to understand photography |
References are available for subscribers.There is so much more to explore when you subscribe.
Subscriptions
| | Portraits
If you have a portrait of this photographer or know of the whereabouts of one we would be most grateful.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
|
LuminousLint 
@LuminousLint