Study of Leaves

The daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia brewer, Amelia Bergner was active in musical and cultural circles. It is likely that her interest in art, rather than an urge to classify the region's flora, prompted her to produce the botanical album from which this print is drawn. Bergner placed fern fronds and leaves directly on paper coated with light-sensitive chemicals and pigments, which she then exposed to the sun. The practice of recording botanical specimens photographically dates to the earliest photographic experiments: William Henry Fox Talbot reproduced flowers and leaves on light-sensitive paper in the 1830s and was considered fitting for 19th-century women, as it exposed them to art, science, and healthful fresh air.