First Permanent Image

1826

The first permanent image was taken by Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. The work titled “View from the Window at Le Gras” is said to be the world’s oldest surviving photograph. To create the image, Niépce put a mixture of bitumen of Judea (a type of asphalt) on a pewter plate and left it out for 8 hours. Over that time the sun's reflection hardened the mixture and when it was rinsed off, the photograph was left behind.

Brown, B. (2002, September). The First Photograph. Abbey Newsletter. Retrieved December 20, 2021, from https://cool.culturalheritage.org/byorg/abbey/an/an26/an26-3/an26-307.html