Background
Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet was born in 1798 in Lyons, France.
1843
banker inventor merchant Photographer
Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet was born in 1798 in Lyons, France.
Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet was a student of photography pioneer Louis Daguerre.
Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet worked with and later improved upon processes taught by Daguerre. Claudet was in the banking business in the years around 1819, moving into glass-making as director of a firm from about 1825 to 1838. He opened the first daguerreotype portrait studio in London with Richard Beard in 1840. In 1851 he opened his "Temple of Photography."
He was appointed official photographer to Queen Victoria in 1853. Working chiefly with daguerreotypes, particularly as used in stereoscope, Claudet made great use of painted backgrounds, dummied curtained windows and other props. He hand-colored much of his work, using a combination of dry color mixed with finely powdered gum.
In 1863 Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet was awarded Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur by the Emperor of France.
Of his many achievements, Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudet reduced the exposure time necessary for making daguerreotypes, and patented the use of red lighting in the darkroom. In 1841 he began the use of artificial lighting and painted backgrounds for portraiture.
Antoine-Frangois-Jean Claudetinvented the focimenter, used to test the degree of achromatism in lenses, in 1844, and four years later invented the photographometer, a device which measures the sensitivity of a daguerreotype plate. In 1853 he patented a device that creates an illusion of movement in stereo-daguerreotype. One of England's earliest daguerreotypists, Claudet is credited with making the first daguerreotype stereographs, for which he invented many related devices and processes.
