CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COLOURING OF PHOTOGRAPHICAL IMAGES
Year: 1852

page_text: A.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACQUES
LEON TARDIEU, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of September,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Jacques Leon Tardieu, Her especial license,
sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Jacques Leon Tardieu, my
exors, adiiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Jacques Leon Tardieu,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, within the Islands of Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also within all Her Majesty's Colo-
nies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
COLOURING OF PHOTOGRAPHICAL IMAGES;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said Jacques Leon Tardieu, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the, said proviso, I, the said
Jacques Leon Tardieu, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and
ascertained by the words following, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a certain method herein-after described for enabling
an artist to colour photographical images, without destroying or affecting the
beautiful delicacy of the lines and shades obtained by the photographical
process, and which is one of the principal merits of that discovery.
.
Until now the attempts at coloring photographical images have proved most
unsuccessful, for the manner now in practice by which such coloring is applied
must, however skilful the artist may be, necessarily efface or take away from the
truthfulness of the photographical image, since the colors are spread over the
lines and shades; by my process I avoid such a destruction of the photographical
image. I will now at once describe how I effect this: Having first obtained
a photographical image on a sheet of paper, or any other substance naturally
transparent or susceptible of being so rendered, by imbibing it with a varnish, or
by any other means; supposing the positive image to be taken on paper, which
I think is the most suitable substance, I fix the edges of the paper to a frame
of wood or other material; I afterwards give with a brush several coats of
varnish on one or both sides of the paper, and then I leave it dry. The image
thus prepared is in a fit state to receive the coloring. The image may, if
preferred, be stuck on a sheet of glass, or of other suitable substance suffi-
ciently transparent. In such a case I lay on the sheet of glass or other
transparent substance a coat of Venetian turpentine or of very thick varnish,
and 1 press on it the paper on the side of the positive image, which I causo to
adhere without wrinkling, by passing over a tampion made of rolled linen or
other suitable material, or by pressing a roller over its surface, or by any other
way of making it bear equal pressure, so as to drive away completely the air
bubbles interposed. If the paper be too thick to have sufficient transparency,
I wet it on its surface and rub it with the fingers, in such a manner as to wear
down the paper till it becomes sufficiently thin; I then give it a coat of varnish
to have a more complete transparency. If the positive image be obtained
directly on the glass or other transparent substance, it will be useless to varnish:
the colour has only to be laid on. The colours I prefer employing are the
same as those used for oil painting; they are prepared and applied by brushes.
In the same manner; however, I may use colours prepared by any known pro
cess, be it with gum, paste, wax, &c. &c.; when the colours I use are not oil
colours, I pass over them several coats of any suitable varnish, if deenied
suitable. The laying on of the colours is the most difficult and delicate part

page_text: of tardeochromy (name which I give to my process. The image must be so
placed on an easel so that the light may show its transparency and enable the
artist to see perfectly at the back of the image the lines and shades that
appear on the front, and the colours are to be laid on the back of the image,
instead of on the front of it; the transparency of the paper permitting the
colours to appear in all their brightness on the paper side of the photographical
image, and yet by this means not a line or shade of it is destroyed. It is
evident, however, that none but an artist and even a talented artist, can make
the colouring with proper discrimination. Should there exist some defects in
the photographical image itself, it is possible to correct these defects, if not too
great, by a judicious colouring, though not swerving from the method above
indicated; in some instances the defective image may be corrected by some
touches made by the artist on the front or right side of it, but this always has
but a poor effect.
I will now describe the processes for the "final operation for the preservation
of the images." The images being painted and dried, I glue on the color one
or several sheets of paper, or a piece of thin tissue or any other kind of suitable
fabric, or I glue the said image on a sheet of pasteboard, wood, metal, or
other suitable substance of slight thickness; I may leave the images in the
frame above mentioned, but I think it is better to detach them.
To stick the image on the piece of tissue, pasteboard, &c. &c., I spread on
the back of the image a coat of any suitable adhering matter.
When the painted image is struck on cloth or canvas, instead of pasting
the former on a piece of cloth of the same size, and fixing it afterwards on a
frame, the canvas may be first fixed to the frame and covered with paint
in the same manner as canvas for paintings, and then the image may be glued
on. I do the same on one of the sides of the tissue, and I put into contact
the glued sides, and placing the image thus glued between two or more sheets
of paper, I make it bear a suitable pressure for about an hour, making use for
such
of kind of weight. This operation being accomplished, I
purpose any
pare off the edges of the image and pass on its surface one or two coats of
varnish used for oil paintings, & I let it dry.
I claim, first, the application I make of oil and other colours for colouring
at the back photographical images, whether these be obtained upon paper
or any other material, either transparent or susceptible of being made so.
Second, the novel manner in which I apply the colours being on the back of
the transparent image and not on the front, as herein described.
Third, the modo of rendering the sheets on which the photographical

page_text: images are so transparent that the colours may be seen through the substance
on which the photographical image is taken.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacques Leon Tardieu, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford the Specification aforesaid was enrolled word for word as
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the oath of Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford the Specification aforesaid was enrolled word for word as
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.