Portret van Mathilde Stev*** (pseudoniem van Mathilde Kindt)

1858

The world’s first aerial photographs

He became the first person to take aerial photographs, using the wet-plate collodion process: the plates had to be prepared and developed in the basket while aloft, and escaping gas ruined the images until Nadar invented a gas-proof cotton cover for his baskets. He also pioneered the use of artificial light in photography, working underground in the catacombs of Paris.

1860

A studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines

In 1860 Nadar moved to 35 Boulevard des Capucines, where he photographed politicians (Guizot, Proudhon), stage actors (Sarah Bernhardt, Paulus), writers (Hugo, Baudelaire, Sand, Nerval, Gautier, Dumas), painters (Corot, Delacroix, Millet) and musicians (Liszt, Rossini, Offenbach, Verdi, Berlioz). In the studio he eschewed traditional sumptuous decors and unnecessary accessories and preferred natural daylight.

1862

An aeronautical society with Jules Verne

In 1862 he and Jules Verne established a Société pour la recherche de la navigation aérienne, which later became the Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier than Air Machines; Nadar served as president and Verne as secretary.

1863

Commissions the enormous balloon “Le Géant”

He commissioned the prominent balloonist Eugène Godard to build an enormous balloon, 60 metres high with a capacity of 6,000 cubic metres, named “Le Géant” (The Giant); it inspired Jules Verne’s “Five Weeks in a Balloon”.

1863

The first ascent of “Le Géant” from the Champ de Mars

About eighty thousand people watched the first ascent of the balloon from the Champ de Mars; its two-storey basket was the size of a small house and held everything needed, including a kitchen.

1863

The crash of “Le Géant” near Hanover

During a flight in October 1863 a strong wind carried the balloon off towards Germany, and near Hanover “Le Géant” crashed, injuring Nadar and his wife Ernestine.