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Joseph-Marie Jacquard [1752-1834] A La Mémoire de J.M. Jacquard. [Lyon]: Didier Petit et Cie, 1839. image 1
Joseph-Marie Jacquard [1752-1834] A La Mémoire de J.M. Jacquard. [Lyon]: Didier Petit et Cie, 1839. image 2
Lot 34

Joseph-Marie Jacquard [1752-1834]
A La Mémoire de J.M. Jacquard. [Lyon]: Didier Petit et Cie, 1839.

5 November 2020, 10:00 PST
Los Angeles

Sold for US$7,575 inc. premium

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Joseph-Marie Jacquard [1752-1834]

A La Mémoire de J.M. Jacquard. [Lyon]: Didier Petit et Cie, 1839.
Fine woven silk portrait, approximately 790 x 630 mm, framed to 1040 x 840 mm, being the portrait view of Jacquard after Claude Bonnefond seated in a workshop interior, model of his loom with loose punch cards, tools and measuring drums arranged on racks behind, view through the musket-ball broken window of a town.
Provenance: The Computer History Collection of Serge Roubé.

THE MOST FAMOUS IMAGE IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF COMPUTING.
Jacquard's loom, a mechanical loom that used a series of punched cards that corresponded to an intended design, would go on to revolutionize not only the textile industry but, with its programmable nature, would go on to have a major influence on computing, directly influencing Charles Babbage who used Jacquard punched cards in the design of his Analytical Engine. Ada Lovelace had pointed out: "We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves."
The city of Lyon commissioned Bonnefond to paint the Jacquard portrait in 1831 and later Lyon manufactuer Didier Petit et Cie commssioned this silk version which was produced by the specialist weaver Michel-Marie Carquillat using 24,000 punched cards. They were apparently produced to order beginning in 1839. With the delicate shading and detail, many contemporary viewers had been fooled into thinking this an engraving.

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