View from the Window at Le Gras

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View from the Window at Le Gras (La cour du domaine du Gras) was the first successful permanent photograph, created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes.

The photo was captured by a camera obscura focussed onto a sheet of 20 × 25 cm oil-treated bitumen. Due to the 8-hour exposure, the buildings are illuminated by the sun from both right and left.

After an unsuccessful trip to Britain to attempt to interest the Royal Society in the process, the image was given to the botanist Francis Bauer. It was last publicly exhibited in 1898, and was thereafter forgotten. The plate was brought prominence again in 1952, by Helmut Gernsheim, and a copy was made by the Eastman Kodak Company.