Jules Itier, Daguerreotypist

Abstract

Jules Itier's work with daguerreotypes is a recent discovery1. A group of 40 examples has been acquired by the Musée de Bièvres (Essonne), and about 80 plates have been traced to a private collection. This body of work conveys the idea of travel photography as it was practised during the 1840s, although only a few examples of the genre survive2. E. Lacan, a critic for La Lumière, commented at the time: ‘the application of daguerreotypy to travel offered more than one practical difficulty, and did not respond to the great need of our century, which was/or popuiarization’3. In the first place, the transportation of a considerable number of silvered plates during a long journey was cumbersome and costly and, above all, the images that were finally brought hack 4 were unique. It was possible to make an admirable private collection, but there was no practical way to share with the general public the fascinating views that had been captured in faraway places, often at great expense and with great effort.

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