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Jules Itier
Singapore
1844, July
Daguerreotype
8.3 x 10.5 cm
National Museum of Singapore
LL/58873
One of the four earliest photographic images of Singapore made by Alphonse-Eugene-Jules Itier, this view of Singapore was produced just five years after the invention of the daguerreotype photographic process by Louis Daguerre in 1839. This process was one of the first commercially used ones to record a permanent image. As a positive-only process, it allowed for no reproduction so this image is unique. Itier, a French Customs Service officer, arrived in Singapore in July 1844. He was impressed by what he saw in Singapore – a dynamic trading port; and sought to record the commercial heartbeat of the place. The view of Singapore which Itier saw from Government Hill (present-day Fort Canning) was a classic landmark view which was often sketched and painted by visiting artists from Europe in the 19th century.
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