Revealing Hercule Florence, Friend of the Arts

X-ray Fluorescence Analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-02672019v27e13d1

Keywords:

Photography, ED-XRF, Analysis of chemical elements, Gold

Abstract

The debates about Hercule Florence (Nice, France, 1804 - Campinas, SP, 1879) as the pioneer in the discovery of the photographic process were based mainly on his manuscripts, since few of his épreuves photographiques (photographic experiments) survived. Technological advances in the last four decades have allowed some of his impressions à la lumière solaire to be subjected to analysis by non-destructive techniques at the Instituto de Física of the Universidade de São Paulo in 2016. It was then possible to broaden knowledge of the materials and procedures used in 1833 to obtain the first photographs of the Americas, six years before the announcement of the discovery of the technique by Louis Daguerre in France.

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Author Biographies

  • Márcia de Almeida Rizzutto, NAP-FAEPAH (Instituto de Física da Universidade de São Paulo)

    Professor at the Institute of Physics, Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Coordinator of the “Nucleus of Physics Research Applied to the Study of Artistic and Historical Heritage” (NAPFAEPAH), she has a special interest in studies of cultural heritage objects with nondestructive analyses using physical and chemical methodologies (http://www.usp.br/faepah/).

  • Francis Melvin Lee, Instituto Hercule Florence / São Paulo, SP, Brasil

    Superintendent of the Instituto Hercule Florence (IHF). She researches artists and graphic techniques in 19th century Brazil.

  • Thierry Thomas, Instituto Hercule Florence / São Paulo, SP, Brasil

    Belgian historian and researcher, he is responsible for transcribing Hercule Florence’s manuscripts from the IHF collection. 

References

FONTES MANUSCRITAS

FLORENCE, Hercule. L'Ami des arts livré à lui-même ou Recherches et découvertes Sur différents sujets nouveaux Par Hercule Florence 1837-1859. Manuscrito, Tinta ferrogálica e lápis sobre papel, 30,6 x 21,0 cm (cada folha). Coleção Instituto Hercule Florence (São Paulo)

FLORENCE, Hercule. Livre d'annotation et de premiers matériaux. s.d. Manuscrito, Tinta ferrogálica sobre papel, 22,5 x 18,1 x 3,3 cm (fechado). Coleção Instituto Hercule Florence (São Paulo)

FLORENCE, Hercule. Deuxième livre de premiers matériaux. 1836-1840. Manuscrito, Tinta ferrogálica sobre papel, 21,7 x 17,6 x 2,4 cm (fechado). Coleção Instituto Hercule Florence (São Paulo)

GOEDHART, Teresa Cristina Florence [Correspondência] Destinatário: Boris Kossoy, [s.l.] 18 maio 1999. Disponível em: <https://bit.ly/2wYvZrU>. Acesso em: 17 set. 2016.

FONTES IMPRESSAS

BRIZUELA, Natalia. De la valeur. In: Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson. Monaco: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco/Humboldt Books, 2017. p. 326-343.

FLORENCE, Hercule. L’Ami des arts livré à lui-même ou recherches et découvertes sur différents sujets nouveaux: Sam Carlos, Province de St. Paul, le 11août, 1837 par Hercule Florence. Ed. fac-sim. São Paulo: Instituto Hercule Florence, 2015. 2 v.

FLORENCE, Hercule. Photographie ou Imprimerie à la lumière. In: Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson. Monaco: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco/Humboldt Books, 2017. p. 145-165. O manuscrito original pertence à Coleção Cyrillo Hercule Florence (São Paulo)

FLORENCE, Hercules. Viagem fluvial do Tietê ao Amazonas pelas Províncias Brasileiras de São Paulo, Mato Grosso e Grão-Pará (1825-1829). Tradução de Francisco Álvares Machado e Vasconcellos Florence. [São Paulo]: Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, 1977.

FLORENCE, Leila (org.). Hercule Florence e o Brasil. O percurso de um artista-inventor. São Paulo: Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2009 (Catálogo de exposição).

KOSSOY, Boris. Hercule Florence: a descoberta isolada da fotografia no Brasil. 3ª ed. São Paulo: EDUSP, 2006.

RIZZUTTO, Márcia de Almeida. Les ‘épreuves photographiques’ de Hercule Florence: une analyse physico chimique. In: Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson. Monaco: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco/Humboldt Books, 2017. p. 100-119.

STUART, B. H. Analytical techniques in materials conservation. England: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.

THOMAS, Thierry e LEE, Francis Melvin. L’Ami des Arts et la ‘Photograhie dorée’. In: Hercule Florence. Le Nouveau Robinson. Monaco: Nouveau Musée National de Monaco/ Humboldt Books, 2017. p.120-129.

Published

2019-12-03

Issue

Section

Museus/Dossiê: Métodos interdisciplinares de análise em acervos museológicos

How to Cite

RIZZUTTO, Márcia de Almeida; LEE, Francis Melvin; THOMAS, Thierry. Revealing Hercule Florence, Friend of the Arts: X-ray Fluorescence Analysis. Anais do Museu Paulista: História e Cultura Material, São Paulo, v. 27, p. 1–32, 2019. DOI: 10.1590/1982-02672019v27e13d1. Disponível em: https://revistas.usp.br/anaismp/article/view/150200. Acesso em: 6 feb. 2026.