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Antoine Claudet

b. Lyon, France, 16 July or 12 August 1797?

 d. London, 27 December 1867

Daguerreotype

Antoine-Jean-Francois Claudet was born in Lyon, France, in 1797.

Claudet settled in London in 1827. HL    He became a glass merchant living in High Holborn.

After being taught the daguerreotype process by its inventor, Claudet purchased the first Daguerreotype licence in England, for which he paid £200 to  the British patentee, Miles Berry.  P

He established his own photographic studio on the roof of the Adelaide Gallery, behind St. Martin's church, Trafalgar Square, London, from 1841 to 1851, and later opened at 107 Regent Street, 1852-58     L, H

Claudet became one of the first practitioners to successfully reduce exposure times for the daguerreotype process.    G

Calotype

Claudet later took out a licence to practice the Talbot's calotype process, but had little success using this process for commercial portraiture   C

Brian Coe's book, the Birth of Photography includes attractive portraits by Claudet, including a self-portrait [p.68] and a photograph of Talbot [p23], both from the collection of the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock.   C

Claudet's studio was the first to use a painted backdrop behind the sitters.  It was Claudet who discovered that it was possible to develop his prints under a red light, rather than in total darkness.  M

References:    C = Brian Coe:    G = Getty Museum:    H  =  John Hannavy:      HL = BEC Howarth-Loomes:
L = Dr R Leggat:     M = Richard Morris:       P = Bob Pullen

Claudet's Links with Edinburgh