[The Royal Private Baths]
Rev. Francis Lockey British
Not on view
"Bath water will frequently induce an intoxicating kind of giddiness," observed an 1840s spa guide. The city of Bath’s thermal springs had, by that time, become the effervescent center of an English bathing boom. As convalescents and courtiers came and went, local reverend Francis Lockey stayed put, making architectural studies of his changing town. Absent any giddiness, his abrupt view of a bathhouse nevertheless intoxicates with its sinuous curves and shrewd geometry.
Experimenting with photography in the medium’s first decade, Lockey likely learned to make paper negatives from William Henry Fox Talbot, who invented his calotype process a few miles down the road. The technique’s long exposure times limited Lockey’s use of human subjects. To appear here, the exceptional gentleman at right summoned the sober pose of the statues above his head.
