Chrysotype

Gold plays role in photography as the ultimate means of stabilizing and protecting the silver image, the universal commercial medium. The printing of photographs in pure gold, rather than silver, was first achieved in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, but his innovative ‘chrysotype’ process was soon consigned to obscurity, owing to its expense and uncertain chemistry.In the 1980s some modern coordination chemistry of gold was applied to overcome the inherent problems, enabling an economic, controllable gold-printing process of high quality, which offers unique benefits for specialised artistic and archival photographic purposes. The colour of the gold image depends on the dimensions of the nanoparticles, which are controlled by the parameters of the photochemical process.

Two books are available describing the use of gold in this application:

Gold in Photography: The History and Art of Chrysotype
by Mike Ware ISBN 9780955112911

The first published history of the use of nanoparticle gold in the arts, detailing the discovery of photosensitive iron salts precipitating gold.

The Chrysotype Manual: The Science and Practice of Photographic Printing in Gold
by Mike Ware ISBN 9780955112904

Intended for the advanced studio, this practical resource provides the first published, comprehensive, user-friendly instruction in the handcrafting of chrysotype images on fine paper.

Mike Ware has also written a paper on this topic in the journal Gold Bulletin

A summary of the use of gold chemistry in modern imaging technology by Henry Gysling, former Eastman Kodak researcher, is also available. Click here