[JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE] |A RARE PORTRAIT OF JACQUARD, WOVEN IN SILK ON A JACQUARD LOOM, LYON, 1839.

From the Computing History Collection of Serge Roube, via his Estate

[JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE]

À la Mémoire de J.M. Jacquard. Né à Lyon le 7 Juillet 1752[,] Mort le 7 Aout 1834. Lyon: Didier Petit et Cie, [1839]

Woven portrait on silk (image: 13 ½ x 17 in.; 340 x 430 mm). Some stains to margins (not affecting image), a few small imperfections to silk, some small wrinkles to silk near image. Matted, glazed, and framed (framed to: 30 ¾ x 37 ¾ in.; 780 x 960 mm).

A RARE AND IMPORTANT PORTRAIT OF JACQUARD, EXECUTED ON THE PROGRAMMABLE LOOM BEARING HIS NAME

The present full-length portrait depicts Jacquard facing slightly left, seated in his workshop, holding a drafting compass in his hand. On a table is a model of a Jacquard loom, and the punch cards used to create designs in woven fabric. A workbench and tools also appear in the background, along with other materials related to weaving. In the upper left is a window with a hole the size of a musket ball in one of the panes.

When considering the birth of the programmable computer, the credit is usually given to Charles Babbage. Jacquard, however, conceived of developing a semi-automatic tone-selection device, which would be integrated onto the loom, resulting in quicker production and more intricate patterns. Jacquard's punch-card system worked much in the same way as a fax machine: each punch in the card directed a black or a white thread into the headstock of the loom, pin-pointing the desired thread into place.