National Portrait Gallery acquires only known photographs of Ada Lovelace

"Ada Lovelace is recognized today as the world's first computer programmer, thanks to her 1843 paper in which she wrote the first algorithm on punch cards to make calculations on Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. That same year, she had daguerreotype portraits taken by photographer Antoine Claudet. Claudet had learned how to use the new technology from Louis Daguerre himself in the late 1830s."

"Claudet took two photographs of Ada Lovelace, both against the same painted backdrop of a landscape with trees. In one picture, she wears flowers in her hair and a lace v-neck collar. In the other, she wears a bonnet with a veil and a bodice with a high neckline. The third photograph in the lot is by an unknown photographer and is not a direct picture of Ada Lovelace, but rather a daguerreotype of a portrait painting of her by Henry Wyndham Phillips."

"The three photographs were offered for sale at Bonham's in a June auction with a pre-sale estimate of 80,000 120,000. Shortly before the scheduled auction, the lot was withdrawn. The National Portrait Gallery announced in December that had acquired them in a private sale. Louise Williamson, Tax and Heritage Consultant in Bonhams' Valuations department, commented: It was wonderful to be involved in this important acquisition of the only known photographs of Ada Lovelace by the National Portrait Gallery via private treaty sale."

Ada Lovelace is credited with writing the first algorithm for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in 1843 and is regarded as the world's first computer programmer. In 1843 she had daguerreotype portraits taken by Antoine Claudet, who learned the process from Louis Daguerre and established London’s first daguerreotype studio in 1841. Claudet produced thousands of portraits and photographed many scientific and literary figures, including Babbage. Two daguerreotypes show Lovelace against the same painted landscape backdrop in different attire, while a third daguerreotype reproduces a painted portrait by Henry Wyndham Phillips. The group was withdrawn from a Bonham's auction and was later acquired privately by the National Portrait Gallery in December.

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