Wild Fennel. Artist: William Henry Fox Talbot (British, Dorset 1800-1877 Lacock). Dimensions: Image: 18.7 x 22.7 cm (7 3/8 x 8 15/16 in.), corners clipped. Date: 1841-42.Talbot's earliest pictures "impressed by the agency of light alone," as he described them, were photographic traces of botanical specimens laid on sheets of chemically sensitized paper and set in the sun. The paper darkened wherever it was struck by light but remained white wherever the sun's rays were blocked. As a serious botanist, Talbot envisioned the accurate recording and easy sharing of natural specimens to be one of the important functions of his invention. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.