You could buy a set of photographic portraits of the legendary mathematician and computer pioneer Ada Lovelace that are said to be the only ones in existence.
The pictures were taken around 1843 and are a type of image called daguerrotypes that captured a picture on metal plates treated with chemicals.
They are portraits from “Claudet” at Adelaide Gallery, Strand, showing Lovelace in oval framed, formal portraits.
The pictures were taken at a studio in the Strand in London that has a direct link to the invention of this photographic process. Image courtesy of Bonhams.
There is also a photograph taken of a painted portrait of Lovelace from 1852.
They are being sold by Bonhams on June 19th and have a pre-sale estimate of £80,000 to £120,000.
Antoine Claudet learned the process directly from its inventor, Louis Daguerre. He set up a series of studios in London from 1841, and took portraits of a number of well-known contemporary scientists, including Charles Babbage and electrical pioneer Michael Faraday.
Bonhams describe the images: “Claudet records her in two different attires, seated in front of the same elaborate painted backdrop of foliage. In one image, she wears floral ornaments in her hair, and a lace collar with her neck bare; in the second she wears a bonnet apparently covered by a black veil, and with a tightly-knotted scarf.”
Ada Lovelace was born in 1815, the only legitimate daughter of poet Lord Byron. She died aged just 36 of cancer.
This picture captured Lovelace as she suffered with her final cancer. It’s a photograph of a painted picture that Lovelace intended to be given to friends after her death. Image courtesy of Bonhams.
Her mathematical ability was recognised when she was quite young, and she came to work closely with Charles Babbage, whose conception of an analytical engine is now recognised as a type of precursor computer. Lovelace worked on “programmes” for the engine.
As a technology enthusiast, Lovelace was also an early fan of photography.
Most of the most valuable photographs are treasured as works of art, like Man Ray’s surrealist piece Le Violon de Ingres, that sold for $12.4 million in 2022.
Some are valued for their subjects, like these portraits. An 1860 portrait of Abraham Lincoln was sold in Chicago in April for over $254,000.
And some are technical innovations in the photographic process. A collection of William Fox Talbot pictures took just under $2 million in 2021.
These images also capture a growing area of the collecting market for figures and artefacts from computing.
With this in mind, it seems likely that the Lovelace images could add up to much more than they’re predicted to make.
