Salt print photography

Abstract

This article presents a historical overview of salt print photography, one of the first photographic techniques to emerge in the 19th century – along with daguerreotypes. The positive copying of salt print photography and its subsequent colouring are studied, with watercolours and oil painting being the most used pictorial techniques at the time. Few salt print photographs survive today, and even fewer painted ones. Therefore, it is important to take special care of them. The second part of the article looks at their conservation, specifically the specifications for conserving this type of photography, and also describes the restoration process of one coloured and framed salt paper photograph found in the Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya (ANC).