Daguerre

While reading Classic Essays on Photography, I came across this amusing quote by Daguerre regarding the creation of the Daguerreotype. In the article, he lays forth the description of his invention and pleads his case for its salience. Near the conclusion of his statement is this befuddling quote,

" This important discovery, capable of innumerable applications, will not only be of great interest to science, but it will also give a new impulse to the arts, and far from damaging those who practice them it will prove a great boon to them. The leisured class will find it a most attractive occupation, and although the result is obtained by chemical means, the little work it entails will greatly please ladies."

So this is the sentiment with which one inventor of photography understood his discovery and "invention" to be defined by. Of course, the context is from the nineteenth century, so the attitude was most likely more prevalent, nonetheless its a simplistic view.