Here’s another anthotype made by Herschel on March 10^th, 1842. It’s a ghost of a lady with beads made of faded red stock flowers. The difference in condition between this and the “best surviving specimen” could be explained by the fact that some flower dyes are more stable than others. But I prefer to think that someone was obsessed with this lady with the beads, and kept sneaking peeks at her, and every time they looked at her she faded away a bit more.

The anthotype is interesting because its fade is inherent and unavoidable. It’s something that is made out of fading. The fading isn’t a special effect or filter.

There are many photographic processes that you can purposefully undermine by not fixing. However, the anthotype is actually made out of the decay and does not offer a permanent option. Its not just about fading, it is fading. The more you look at it the faster it disappears. I like to imagine someone living with an anthotype displayed long enough that the image becomes invisible. Then a visitor might see an empty frame hanging in their room, and ask, “Why do you have a blank picture hanging on your wall?” And then they could tell them what it used to be like. The image becomes visible only as a story or memory.