{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O69139"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O69139/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV3456/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV3456/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV3456","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AG1356","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O69139/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O69139","accessionNumber":"PH.380-1981","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grasses)","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"Anna Atkins is credited with being the first woman photographer and the first person to produce a photographically illustrated book. She was already a skilled botanical illustrator when she took up the cyanotype photographic process, invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. As part of the process, after exposing an object in contact with paper in sunlight for a few minutes, she washed the paper in water, producing a white image on a brilliant cyan (blue) background.","physicalDescription":"Cyanotype print showing Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grasses).  The white detailed outline of the grasses stand out in stark contrast to the bright prussian blue of the background.  The title 'Festuca Ovina' is also in white in the bottom left hand of the image. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Atkins, Anna","id":"A6428"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cyanotype","id":"AAT53260"},{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cyanotype on paper","categories":[{"text":"Images Online","id":"THES48937"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AV3456","2006AG1356"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"71","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1854","earliest":"1854-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"35","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"24.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Anna Atkins, 'Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grass)', 1854, cyanotype","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Coe, Brian &amp; Haworth-Booth, Mark.  <u>A Guide to Early Photographic Printing Processes</u>. London: The Victoria   and Albert Museum in association with Hurtwood Press, 1983."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"grass","id":"AAT11872"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Photography Centre 2018-20:</b>\n\r\nAnna Atkins (1797–1871)\nFestuca Ovina (Fescue Grass)\r\n1854\r\n\r\nAnna Atkins is credited with being the first woman photographer and the first person to produce a photographically illustrated book. She was already a skilled botanical illustrator when she took up the cyanotype photographic process, invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. As part of the process, after exposing an object in contact with paper in sunlight for a few minutes, she washed the paper in water, producing a white image on a brilliant cyan (blue) background.\r\n\r\nCyanotype\r\nMuseum no. PH.380-1981\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"<b>Cameraless Photography\r\n</b>\r\nAnna Atkins (1799–1871)\r\nFestuca Ovina (Fescue Grasses) from British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns\r\nc.1854\r\nCyanotype\r\n35 x 24.8 cm\r\nMuseum no. Ph.380-1981\r\n\r\nAtkins was already a skilled technical illustrator by the time she took up the cyanotype photographic process invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. A sheet of paper was brushed with iron salt solutions and dried in the dark. After exposing an object on the paper in sunlight for a few minutes the paper was washed in water. Oxidation produced a white image on a brilliant blue, or cyan, background.\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["PH.380-1981"],"accessionNumberNum":"380","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":1981,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-07","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-04","availableToBook":false}}