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National Portrait Gallery acquires only known photographs of Ada Lovelace
London’s National Portrait Gallery has acquired the only known photographs of 19th century mathematician and computing pioneer Ada Lovelace (1815-1852).
Ada Lovelace is recognized today as the world’s first computer programmer, thanks to her 1843 paper in which she wrote the first algorithm on punch cards to make calculations on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. That same year, she had daguerreotype portraits taken by photographer Antoine Claudet. Claudet had learned how to use the new technology from Louis Daguerre himself in the late 1830s. He moved to London and established the first daguerreotype studio there in 1841, and he was a huge success, producing more than 1800 portraits a year. He photographed many literary and scientific luminaries, including Babbage himself.
Claudet took two photographs of Ada Lovelace, both against the same painted backdrop of a landscape with trees. In one picture, she wears flowers in her hair and a lace v-neck collar. In the other, she wears a bonnet with a veil and a bodice with a high neckline.
The third photograph in the lot is by an unknown photographer and is not a direct picture of Ada Lovelace, but rather a daguerreotype of a portrait painting of her by Henry Wyndham Phillips. It was the last portrait of her, painted three months before her death from uterine cancer.
The three photographs were offered for sale at Bonham’s in a June auction with a pre-sale estimate of £80,000 – £120,000. Shortly before the scheduled auction, the lot was withdrawn. The National Portrait Gallery announced in December that had acquired them in a private sale.
Louise Williamson, Tax and Heritage Consultant in Bonhams’ Valuations department, commented: “It was wonderful to be involved in this important acquisition of the only known photographs of Ada Lovelace by the National Portrait Gallery via private treaty sale. Private Treaty Sales allow qualifying museums to acquire pre-eminent works of art or other objects from private owners for a ‘special price’, which reflects a tax incentive that is shared between the seller and the acquiring institution. They are an increasingly important way for museums to expand their collections, and it was pleasure to work with Matthew Haley to facilitate the sale through Bonhams.”
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