Hirten / Pifferari mit Brotzeit

In 1864, the German studio photographer Jacob Wothly patented his invention of the Wothlytype, a process of using uranium salts in addition to silver for photographic prints. The technique was intended to overcome the problem of fading common to albumen prints; however, the results suffered from the same problem and the Wothlytpye was never widely adopted. In 1865, the French photographer Mangel du Mesnil, who had previously worked as a daguerreotypist in Mexico and Latin America, founded the Société Francaise de Wothlytypie in Paris after taking out the French and Belgian patents for the process. This photograph provides evidence of the professional partnership shared by these two early pioneers of photographic chemistry; the image was exhibited separately by both Wothly and Mangel du Mesnil in Vienna (1864) and Paris (1865) under variant titles, and is believed to be a sample photograph sent to individuals interested in licensing the process. In addition to its unusual process, this photograph is noteworthy for its droll subject – a mise en scène of three Italian shepherds picnicking on a studio floor.