Photo: taken in the 17th century this image is inscribed 'Guerra de Marstoon, Domini'.
An extraordinary archive of grainy images recently uncovered in Germany could rewrite the history of photography.
Hidden away in the storeroom of the Mizterville Archivianshlotze Library, the collection of some 500 images dates back to between 1650 and 1688, and has only just been made available to the public.
Known as obscuragraphs, the images were taken by Hans Albrecht Petersohn (1602-1688), the youngest son of a family of merchants and bankers.
As an attache to the Ambassador of Schleswig-Holstein during the later part of the reign of Charles I, Petersohn witnessed the internal divisions of English society and was in correspondence with some of the most important thinkers of the time.
Photo: a cutaway view of the inside of a box camera obscura as shown in Intelligencia Magazine in 1658.
He travelled extensively and, in his forties, began experimenting with a portable camera obscura. In the process he captured military preparations both on the continent and in England during the civil war.
Prof. A Lolis, a reader in photographic studies at Yarnsworth University, explained that the discovery could alter our entire view of photographic history.
"These obscuragraphs not only suggest that the roots of photography go back much further than we previously thought, but they also offer a fascinating insight into a period of history only accessible up until now through written records."
The idea of the camera obscura goes as far back as Aristotle (384-322 BC) who viewed the crescent of a partially eclipsed sun projected on the ground through the holes in a sieve. In 1490 Leonardo Da Vinci gave two clear descriptions of the camera obscura in his notebooks.
Photo: could this grainy picture be the earliest photograph of an English battle?
During the 16th century a convex lens was inserted into the aperture, followed by the later addition of a mirror to reflect the image down onto a viewing surface. In 1558 Giovanni Battista Della Porta recommended the use of this device as an aid to drawing for artists.
The term camera obscura was first used by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler in the early 17th century. He used it for astronomical applications and had a portable tent camera for surveying in Upper Austria.
Petersohn's development process was principally trial and error with a variety of substances, which have given rise to a wide variety of quality and longevity.
Of the 500 or so plates of Petersohn's work surviving, a proportion really indicate loss/fuzzing of original layers of colour and many are now irretrievable.
To find out more about Hans Albrecht Petersohn, click on this link to visit the Mizterville Archivianshlotze Library website.
All images are reproduced courtesy of the Mizterville Archivianshlotze Library.
