THURSDAY 28th JULY 2016
WEEKLY TRANSMISSION N°30 LOUIS CONVERS AUTOCHROMIST:
AUTOMN COLORS OF VERSAILLES GARDENS
PWT 30-2016 CONTENTS : About the Autochrome Lumière Versailles Gardens Temple de l’Amour Étude de Meules de Paille
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Louis Convers at the French Academy in Rome. He was the 1888 first prize winner in the Sculpture category.
The e-bulletin presents articles as well as selections of books, albums, photographs and documents as they have been handed down to the actual owners by their creators and by amateurs from past generations. The physical descriptions, attributions, origins, and printing dates of the books and photographs have been carefully ascertained by collations and through close analysis of comparable works. When items are for sale, the prices are in Euros, and Paypal is accepted.
N°30 : LOUIS CONVERS AUTOCHROMIST
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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n°13, detail
The Autochrome Lumière is an early color photography process «Patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907, it was the principal color photography process in use, after the little known Lippmann interference photochromes, and before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s. Autochrome is an additive color "mosaic screen plate" process. The medium consists of a glass plate coated on one side with a random mosaic of microscopic grains of potato starch dyed red-orange, green, and blue-violet (an unusual but functional variant of the standard red, green, and blue additive colors) which act as color filters. Lampblack fills the spaces between grains, and a black-and-white panchromatic silver halide emulsion is coated on top of the filter layer. Unlike ordinary black-and-white plates, the Autochrome was loaded into the camera with the bare glass side facing the lens, so that the light passed through the mosaic filter layer before reaching the emulsion. The use of an additional special orange-yellow filter in the camera was required to block ultraviolet light and restrain the effects of violet and blue light, parts of the spectrum to which the emulsion was overly sensitive. Because of the light loss due to all the filtering, Autochrome plates required much longer exposures than black-and-white plates and films, which meant that a tripod or other stand had to be used and that it was not practical to photograph moving subjects. The plate was reversal-processed into a positive transparency — that is, the plate was first developed into a negative image but not "fixed", then the silver forming the negative image was chemically removed, then the remaining silver halide was exposed to light and developed, producing a positive image.
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). The Abduction of Persephone, Colonnade, Gardens of Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label, printed signature on a paper between glasses. 400 euros
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). Terme de Faune, Latona Fountain, Gardens of Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label, printed signature on a paper between glasses. 800 euros
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). Near the Petit Trianon, Gardens of Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label, printed signature on a paper between glasses. 600 euros ÂŤOn 5 October 1789, Marie Antoinette was in the gardens of the Petit Trianon when a page brought news of the imminent arrival of an armed crowd from Paris. With the enforced departure of the royal family the next day the Petit Trianon was almost abandoned except for the gardeners and other staff who continued to live there. Renovations that had been underway were interrupted, leaving large sums owed to builders...Âť
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). Apollo Bosquet, Gardens of Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label. 200 euros ÂŤ...The former Queen's gardener Antoine Richard, was appointed as curator of the gardens and plant nursery in 1792 by the Minister of the Interior. After the final overthrow of the monarchy in July 1792, all of the furniture, art works and other valuables of the Petit Trianon were given to auction, under a decree of the Convention dated 10 June 1793. The auction began on Sunday, August 25, 1793 and continued until 11 August 1794. The properties sold were widely scattered...Âť
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). Temple de l’Amour, Petit Trianon, Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label, printed signature on a paper between glasses. 600 euros «The temple de l'Amour is a garden folly of the Petit Trianon, built on a small river island...»
Weekly Transmission 30
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Thursday 28 July 2016
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Louis Convers (1860-1915). Étude de Meules de Paille, Versailles, c. 1910. Autochrome quarter-plate, 85x100 mm, captioned on a label, two bright color spots affecting the image . 300 euros Unusual impressionist composition.
n°2, detail
“... The phrase "Let them eat cake" is often attributed to Marie Antoinette, but there is no evidence she ever uttered it, and it is now generally regarded as a "journalistic cliché". This phrase originally appeared in Book VI of the first part (finished in 1767, published in 1782) of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's putative autobiographical work, Les Confessions: "Enfin je me rappelai le pis-aller d'une grande princesse à qui l'on disait que les paysans n'avaient pas de pain, et qui répondit: Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" ("Finally I recalled the stopgap solution of a great princess who was told that the peasants had no bread, and who responded: 'Let them eat brioche'"). Apart from the fact that Rousseau ascribes these words to an unknown princess, vaguely referred to as a "great princess", the purported writing date precedes Marie Antoinette's arrival in France. .” (Wikipedia)
Number Thirty, Second Season, of the Weekly Transmission has been uploaded on Thursday 21st July 2016 at 15:15 (Paris time). Forthcoming uploads and transmissions on Thursdays : Thursday 28th July, Thursday 4th August, 15:15 (Paris time). serge@plantureux.fr
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