Autotype photographs by Adolphe Braun & Henri Braun of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, 1868-1870

From: Adolphe Braun and From: Henri Braun

RA Collection: Art

Photograph (autotype) of a detail of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel showing the Delphic Sibyl, number 71 of a series of an original 125 (123 remain today). In 1870, the same year that the photography was completed, the Academy's Librarian Solomon Hart R.A. was authorised to purchase "the series of autotype impressions from the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel at Rome consisting of 125 impressions fitted up in the appropriate cases at the cost £106.8.0." This series of early examples from The Autotype Company, London, reputedly took two years to complete, Adolphe Braun and his photographic team having to overcome organisational as well as complex technical difficulties as the chapel continued to operate throughout this time.