[Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Book]

Antoine Franсois Jean Claudet was a pioneering French photographer who made significant contributions to the development of photography in the 19th century. He was born in 1797 in La Croix-Rousse, Lyon, France, and began his career as a chemist. In 1829 he moved to England and set up as a portrait painter. However, he soon became interested in photography and began to experiment with the new medium. In 1839 he became one of the first photographers in England to use the daguerreotype process. Claudet quickly became one of the leading portrait photographers of his time and was renowned for his technical expertise and artistic skill. He was also an innovator, developing new techniques and equipment to improve the quality of his photographs. One of his most significant contributions to photography was the invention of the red-sensitive collodion process, which made it possible to produce colour photographs. He also developed a method for producing stereoscopic images, which became popular in the mid-19th century. Claudet's work was widely exhibited and he received numerous prizes and honours throughout his career. He died in London in 1867, leaving a legacy as one of the most important figures in the early history of photography.