Portrait of Fox Talbot

Abstract

AN appeal for funds for a portrait of William Henry Fox Talbot has been issued over the signatures of Sir Robert Robinson, president of the Royal Society, Lord Brabazon of Tara, president of the Royal Institution, and Mr. Percy W. Harris, president of the Royal Photographic Society. Fox Talbot's 'researches between 1834 and 1841 place him in the forefront of photographic pioneers, for, from the results of these scientific discoveries, all photographic technique has since developed. The home of the Talbot family for many centuries has been Lacock Abbey, in Wiltshire, and this was presented to the National Trust in 1944 by his granddaughter, Miss M. T. Talbot. On its walls are portraits of a number of Fox Talbot's ancestors ; but there is no portrait of Fox Talbot himself. The hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth will occur in February 1950, and a fund has therefore been opened to commission a portrait in oils for the South Gallery of Lacock Abbey opposite the window which was the subject of the earliest existing photograph, taken by Fox Talbot in 1835 and now in the Science Museum, London. A portrait of this character is considered to be preferable to a photograph, so as to accord with the others in the gallery. The honorary treasurer of the fund is Mr. Harold White, and donations should be sent to him at the Royal Photographic Society, 16 Princes Gate, London, S.W.7, and made payable to the "Fox Talbot Portrait Fund".