Gottfried Barth, un pionier al dagherotipiei în Europa de Est / Gottfried Barth, a pioneer of the daguerreotype in Eastern Europe
Jan. 1, 2022
Keywords:
Timişoara
Braşov
Moscow
daguerreotype portrait
Vienna
printer
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Abstract
Revealed to the world by François Arago on August 19, 1839, in Paris, the daguerreotype triggered a visual revolution, offering people the unique opportunity to immortalize moments of their existence. The process conceived by Louis Daguerre was, however, rudimentary, long exposure times (between 3 and 30 minutes) restricted subjects to landscapes and architecture. With the combined use of the fast portrait lens designed by Josef Petzval in 1840, featuring a large aperture (f/3.6), and the high-sensitivity emulsion developed by Franz Kratochwilla in 1841, exposure times were reduced to about one second in sunlight, which encouraged the emergence of the first portrait studios.
Vienna became the epicenter of the daguerreotype in Central Europe, where skilled opticians put the technique into practice. Among the pioneers who left Vienna early to demonstrate the efficiency of the optimized process for portraiture was the printer Gottfried Barth, whose journey through Eastern Europe - Banat (December 1841), Transylvania (July 1842), the Russian Empire (southern Ukraine, Kazan in 1843, and Moscow in September 1844) - remains less known.
He introduced daguerreotypy in Timișoara and Brașov, creating rapid portraits and even images of live animals for the nobility. In Moscow, he established a studio and collaborated with other local daguerreotypists, thus spreading the practice within the German émigré community. Despite his talent and efforts, Barth’s aspirations to achieve fame and financial stability through daguerreotypy were unsuccessful. In 1850, he disappeared from Vienna, leaving a farewell note. The circumstances suggest suicide, likely caused by professional failure and frustration.
