Now that we know the picture is from Ulm, we can search manually through Ulm’s city archive to find images that have not been indexed by search engines. Undated photo from Rijksmuseum album showing a slightly changed roofline and additional spire (right). However, despite the similarities we can tell that the Rijksmusem’s photo is more modern, because the building has features that do not yet exist in the oldest photo (circled in red below).ĭocumented photo of the Ulm Minister church from 1854 (left). That image, taken in 1854 and described as the oldest known photo of the church, is almost identical in perspective to the undated Rijksmuseum photo. Reverse image searches of the photo of the church facade below, also seen in the view across the river that we found using Google Lens reverse image search, leads to a match of a photo on the website of Ulm’s Art Association. These photos from the Rijksmuseum are already identified as albumen pictures, a method of photography popular between the 1850s and 1900s, and have a rough period assigned to them in the album.īut the content of photos can also be used to more precisely establish when they were taken. Sites including GraphicsAtlas can help establish the rough time period on this basis, though this is a nuanced process best left to experts. The size of photos, as well as the chemical process by which photos were produced, change over time. If the author is unknown and no date is written on the photo, physical features can help determine the time period. Combined with other tools, such as PeakVisor, Google Earth, and AI colorization, it has now become easier to geolocate photos of unknown origin. Google Lens’ recognition algorithm has improved the potential of reverse image searches for finding a match for old photos. The perspectives of three album photos mapped with Google Earth Pro. To use a reverse image search, the photograph in question must be the only image in the frame. The 21 photos all appear to be original, but in many cases a reverse image search can still be used to find similar looking images that might provide more detail about location and time. Here’s how we did it - and how you could, too. These tools and methods allowed us to pinpoint the location of several of these photographs. Reverse image searches, Google Lens, digitized newspapers, heritage and auctioneering websites, AI colorization, and tools such as Peakvisor can help add valuable information and understanding to historic art collections. New tools and a wealth of online data make it easier to navigate more than 150 years of evolving landscapes, cities, buildings, and street names. Today, open source research can provide new clues. However, the location and authors of 21 images remain unknown. Most of these photographs were taken by well-known photographers such as Samuel Bourne, and the duo Shepherd & Robertson. The aforementioned travel album, which can be viewed online here, contains 60 images. The Rijksmuseum has become a leader in the effort by galleries worldwide to digitize their collections. This album is one of hundreds in the possession of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, the largest museum in the Netherlands. But in other cases, it’s still unclear where, when, and by whom these photographs were taken. Many of these were captured by prominent photographers at well-known landmarks and sites. In 1860, roughly 30 years after photography was invented, a series of photos were taken across Europe and India. Comparing different archive photos of buildings near Freiburg cathedral in Germany highlights added.
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