About This Image

Signed and dated (Avril 1851) and titled in ink on the mount below the image with a double-line border all around the image.Roman (1812-1883) was from a noted industrial family in Alsace. He reportedly began experimenting with photography as early as 1840.Roman was a student of Gustave Le Gray's, but encountered problems in adapting Le Gray's methods to his more mountainous location in Alsace and Switzerland. In 1854 two of his letters to Charles Chevalier that discussed some improvements in making prints became part of Chevalier's 1854 "Guide de Photographie". Roman preferred warmer prints to Le Gray's blue coloration, which Le Gray obtained through gold toning.He exhibited photographs in the Exposition Universelle of 1855. He also showed an album of work from Italy and France at the SFP's 1861 exposition.Most of his photographs were of landscapes, but he also photographed works of art.Roman is listed by Jammes and Janis in their "The Art of the French Calotype" on page 245 and an extensive biography is in "Primitifs de la Photographie: Le Calotype en France, 1843-1860" (Gallimard/BNF), p.305. Examples of his signed work are extremely rare.

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