{{short description|British photographer (1811–1880)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use British English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox artist | name = Constance Fox Talbot | image = Constance Talbot.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Constance Fox Talbot, circa 1840,<br />photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot | birth_name = Constance Mundy | birth_date = {{Birth date|1811|01|30|df=y}} | birth_place = Markeaton Hall, Markeaton, Derbyshire, England, UK | death_date = {{Death date and age|1880|09|09|1811|01|30|df=y}} | death_place = London, England, UK | education = | field = Photography | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = William Henry Fox Talbot | resting_place = Lacock Cemetery, Lacock, Wiltshire, England, UK }}
'''Constance Talbot''' (née Mundy, 30 January 1811 – 9 September 1880)<ref>[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67240232 "Constance Mundy Talbot"], Find a Grave. Retrieved 12 April 2013.</ref> was an English artist credited as the first woman ever to take a photograph – a hazy image of a short verse by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/dec/09/bodleian-library-bid-fox-talbot-archive Maev Kennedy, "Bodleian Library launches £2.2m bid to stop Fox Talbot archive going overseas"], ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.</ref>
Constance, who came from Markeaton in Derbyshire,<ref name="Nannavy"/> was the youngest daughter of Francis Mundy (1771–1837), Member of Parliament for that county from 1822 to 1831.<ref>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/derbyshire "Derbyshire"], The History of Parliament. Retrieved 12 April 2013.</ref>
She married William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the key players in the development of photography in the 1830s and 1840s, in 1832.<ref name="Nannavy">{{cite book | title=Fox Talbot | publisher=Shire Publications Ltd | author=Nannavy, John | year=1997 | location=Princes Risborough | pages=7 | isbn=0-7478-0351-X}}</ref> In 1833, during their honeymoon in Italy, her husband realised that her artistic abilities were superior to his, and began to develop a method to capture a view without draughtsmanship, which led to the negative-positive process of photography.<ref name=times20201201>{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/photography-culture/article/artistic-jealousy-that-inspired-william-henry-fox-talbot-to-develop-photography-nvzb6d2km|title=Artistic jealousy that inspired William Henry Fox Talbot to develop photography|author=Mark Bridge|date=1 December 2020|access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref>
She briefly experimented with the process herself as early as 1839.<ref name="Buckland1980">{{cite book|last=Buckland|first=Gail|title=Fox Talbot and the invention of photography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtBTAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=D. R. Godine|isbn=978-0-87923-307-5}}</ref>
Her watercolours and drawings remained hidden at Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot's home, until they were digitised by the National Trust and made publicly available.<ref name=times20201201/><ref>{{cite web|publisher=The National Trust|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lacock-abbey-fox-talbot-museum-and-village/projects/the-watercolour-project|accessdate=1 December 2020|title=The Watercolour Project}}</ref>
==References== {{Commons category}} {{Reflist}}
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Category:English women photographers Category:Pioneers of photography Category:1811 births Category:1880 deaths Constance Constance Fox Category:19th-century English women artists Category:19th-century English photographers Category:People from Markeaton Category:Photographers from Derbyshire Category:19th-century British women photographers
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