# Constance Fox Talbot

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{{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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Markeaton) in Derbyshire,<ref name="Nannavy"/> was the youngest daughter of [Francis Mundy](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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== 
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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

{{UK-photographer-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Constance Fox Talbot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Fox_Talbot) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Fox_Talbot?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.