William Fox Talbot collection sells for nearly £1.5 million at auction, a new record

A trove of nearly 200 early photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot quadrupled its pre-auction estimate to achieve $1,956,000 (£1,411,557) this week, a new auction record for the seminal British photography pioneer. Gifted by the photographer to his sister and remaining in the family since, the collection made its auction debut as a highlight of Sotheby’s 50 Masterworks to Celebrate 50 Years of Sotheby’s Photographs sale. Horatia playing Amélina’s harp (1843) – Fox Talbot gifted the collection to her back in the day The sale set a new artist record for Talbot, and a new benchmark for a work of 19th century photography at auction. Chepstow Castle, Monmouthshire An early pioneer of the medium and recognized from the start for his artistic capabilities, Talbot’s contributions to photography were critical to its development as an artistic and scientific medium. Gifted by the photographer to his sister, Henrietta Horatia Maria Gaisford (née Feilding) in the 1840s, and passed down through the family, the collection is comprised of loose photographs, personal albums, fascicles of The Pencil of Nature, and a complete Sun Pictures in Scotland. “It is arguably the most important lot of 19th century photographs to have ever come to market, […]

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