In 1907, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, introduced the first viable method of color photography. Although color photographs had existed, the process was clumsy and complicated. The key ingredient, the Lumières discovered, was potato starch.

The process, called autochrome, involved covering a glass plate with a thin wash of tiny potato starch grains dyed red, green, and blue, thus creating a filter. A thin layer of emulsion was added over that. When the plate was flipped and exposed to light, the resulting image could be developed into a transparency. Autochrome was immediately popular in Paris, where it was introduced, and soon spread to the United States. Like early black and white photography, autochrome was a slow process. Because exposures were long, subjects had to stay still—sometimes unsuccessfully—to avoid a blurred image. But with autochrome, the blur had an unusual aesthetic effect. Paired with the soft, dyed colors, it made the photo look like a painting.

Most publishers adopted Kodachrome in the 1930s because it was easier to use. Autochrome required photographers to carry around heavy wooden suitcases filled with fragile glass plates; Kodachrome film, twinned with a 35mm camera, was light and easy to travel with. Today, autochrome is rarely used, and films like Kodachrome have been supplanted by digital. The autochrome plates in archives provide a unique look into the past, to a time before digital precision replaced a softer, painterly look and palette.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150131-pictures-autochrome-color-photography-history-people-culture/

Emile Guiton:

Born in Jersey in 1879 he had a keen interest in history and was a member of La Société Jersiaise, served on its executive committee as joint honorary secretary, and was curator of the Museum and editor of the Annual Bulletin.He also realised that history was being made during his own lifetime and he recorded the development of his native island from the turn of the century until his death in 1972. He experimented with Autochrome colour very early in the century. Not only did he record events and activities during his own lifetime, particularly agriculture, but he had a fascination with the past and chronicled with his images many archaeological excavations (his pictures of the interior of La Hougue Bie remain some of the best in existence) as well as photographing Mont Orgueil (Gorey) Castle and other coastal fortifications, sites of geological interest, and architecture. Guiton had a particular interest in the design of Jersey houses over the centuries, and particularly in different styles of arches to be found in the island. He was present at many major events, including the Liberation in 1945 (he had also taken photographs during the German Occupation, and the proclamations of successive monarchs in the Royal Square.

Emile Guiton was a keen amateur photographer and practised throughout his long life. He experimented with colour at the beginning of the twentieth century in “Autochromes”. His subjects include the recording of archaeological excavations and he was one of the few people in Jersey permitted to take photographs during the German Occupation of 1940 – 1945. Emile Guiton also recognised very early on the importance of collecting photographs, both as a valuable social historic resource and as interesting artefacts – examples of developments in science and technology. He donated many images to the Société Jersiaise. He died in 1972.

https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Emile_Guiton

Cook maid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, painted by Sir Nathaniel Bacon (c.1620-5)

Technical:

Incorporates highlights and shadows, showing a clear understanding of light and dark. This image contains three factors. The stature and framing of the female subject in the centre, as well as the clouds in the sky in the background and a series of fruits and vegetables in the foreground.

Visual:

The image captures a slightly larger woman surrounded by fruits and vegetables, both signify some sort of wealth or financial sustenance to be able to afford those foods and clearly have enough food on the table to thrive. The position of a large fruit over the woman’s belly represents fertility and the ability to carry and produce a healthy child. The composition is very colourful, with fruits and vegetables around the base of the image and a flowery wreath hung up on the wall.

Contextual:

‘Cookmaid’ and market scenes, popular in the seventeenth century, evolved in the Low Countries from a genre practised by Pieter Aertse and his pupil Joachim Beuckalaer, which combined contemporary kitchen scenes with a New Testament episode beyond. An inventory of 1659 connected to the will of the artist’s wife lists ‘Ten Great peeces in Wainscote of fish and fowle’. Two other ‘Cookmaid’ pictures are known to exist: Cookmaid with Still Life of Game and Cookmaid with Still Life of Birds, both in the possession of the artist’s descendants. The Tate’s work is possibly part of this group. Such groups were often intended to depict the four seasons or the twelve months of the year. In the case of this piece, however, although every item represented in the painting was grown in England at the time, not all would have been in season simultaneously. Bacon, according to a letter dated 19 June 1626, was growing melons at his estate in East Anglia, and he was known to have a keen interest in horticulture. The subject would most likely have had erotic connotations. The abundance of ripe melons surrounding the cookmaid echo her figure.

Origins and Definition of Still Life:

Still life paintings have technically been around for thousands of years. The earliest examples of still life paintings were by cavemen dating back toA still life composition is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural or man-made. The art style often uses symbolism and meanings hidden within the image. Still life images should rarely be taken at surface value.

Dutch artists of the 17th Century became renowned for being greatly concerned with ‘a close scrutiny of the natural world.’ This, combined with their preoccupation with perspective and the study of light, provided the fundamental elements of Still Life painting. The term had come into general usage in mid-century, Still Life being the carefully composed portrayal of inanimate objects, such as: fruits, flowers, skulls and other prestigious objects. Living creatures were able to be incorporated as long as they were incidental to the main theme. Still Life, in itself a particular aspect of art, further diversified into different categories.

The Distinct Categories:

The earliest examples, from the beginning of the 1600s and later influenced by ‘tulip-mania’, were the popular floral paintings. These were followed by flowers with fruit, then the humble ‘breakfast pieces’. As the century progressed, and wealth became widespread, so the ‘breakfast’ developed into the ‘banquet piece’, depicting large quantities of high end food and delicacies. Another important facet of Still Life called ‘Trompe L’Oeil’, French for ‘deceive the eye’ – evolved in the mid-century from the game piece and its illusionist appeal to the Dutch. Finally, at the latter part of the century, taste changed, colour and form became more baroque.

Flower Pieces:

Just as painters specialised in different aspects of art, certain towns became the focal points for specific genres. Dutch cities such as Middelburg, Utrecht and Amsterdam were the main centres for flower painting, a genre that was highly regarded and very well paid. The artists, although portraying genuine flowers, depicted them in impossible arrangements such as blooms from all four seasons were shown at once, reflecting the studio practice of painting individual flowers, in season, as studies for future reference. Flowers were accurately detailed without the overlapping that would happen naturally in a vase arrangement. Flowers were ciphers for spring but there was also an evolving symbolism in the language of flowers that was accessible to contemporary viewers. For example the Madonna lily was an attribute of the Virgin Mary, the white iris a symbol of her purity and the rose, of her love. A daisy meant charity, a buttercup represented the unmarried , and the sunflower represented the love of God, or sometimes love of the earth. Some artists presented their work as so-called ‘niche’.

Fruit with Flowers:

Symbolism was highly present at the time in objects such as exotic fruits and shells brought back by trading merchants. Shells had particular appeal to a nation governed by the sea and, with fruit, were often displayed as part of floral compositions. Fruit had a religious message; the apple of temptation, the grape the blood of Christ; and a different shell might represent each continent as visual tribute to the geographic and scientific discoveries of the day.

Breakfast Pieces:

With the introduction in Haarlem and Amsterdam of the Ontbijtje, the Breakfast Piece, the format changed to landscape to accommodate the expanse of a tabletop. Placing the table edge parallel to the horizon, with the table-cover dropping markedly downwards, enhanced the impression of space. The food illustrated was basic – bread, cheese, fruit, nuts, herring – and often presented half eaten for realism. The cutlery and dishes of pewter or pottery were equally simple but skilfully painted. In earlier breakfast pieces, the viewer is looking downwards onto the table, but as the century progresses, the viewpoint is lowered. Like the flowers, the objects were carefully spaced and by the 1620s were projecting over the table edge, creating an illusion of nearness to the viewer. By the 1630s these bright colours were becoming more monochromatic.