At 175 years, is this the world's oldest image?
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| Experts believe this image | Henry Fox Talbot is credited |
London: It might be a little out of focus, and need a bit of work on the composition.
But this image of a leaf has been hailed as ‘priceless’ by experts who believe it could be the world’s first photograph.
The red picture had previously been attributed to
But some believe this image may have been created in the last years of the 18th century - more than 30 years earlier.
The image - created by laying a leaf on light-sensitive paper and exposing it to the sun - has now been withdrawn from sale by a leading auction house while further investigations are carried out.
Denise Bethell of Sotheby’s said: “The possibility of a definitive conclusion regarding this early photogenic drawing is very exciting.
“We were expecting £50-£70,000 for it. If it could be authenticated as the world’s oldest photograph, the sky could be the limit.”
Fox Talbot (1800-1877) was famed as the first photographer as he was thought to have created the negative - a means of duplicating an image many times over.
The leaf image was last sold as a Talbot original by Sotheby’s in 1984 and snapped up by a New York art dealer.
It was due to be sold again on April 7 in New York, but auctioneers asked art historian Dr Larry Schaaf to inspect it ahead of the sale, and were shocked at his suggestion that it wasn’t created by Talbot.
Dr Schaaf believes a letter 'W' on the image may stand for
Wedgwood was known to have experimented with
Dr Schaaf told Sotheby’s: “Well, the first thing I would say is that this was not made by Talbot. That was not what they were expecting to hear, to say the least,” he added.
The question mark over the picture created great excitement in the art world, and Sotheby’s has called off the sale so the photo can be authenticated.
