Louise Franziska Möllinger (1817–1880) was a pioneering German-born Swiss photographer who worked with daguerreotypes in the early 1840s. She is thought to be the first female photographer who was active in Switzerland. Möllinger was also the first in Switzerland to use

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

as a means of publishing multiple copies of her landscapes as early as 1844.

Biography

Born on 14 March 1817 in

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

, Germany, Louise Franziska Möllinger was the second child of the watchmaker David Möllinger and his wife Rosina née Flicht. On David's death in 1834, the family moved to Switzerland. Throughout her life, Möllinger was very close to her elder brother Otto (1814–1886) who had studied mathematics and physics. From 1836, he was a mathematics teacher at the canton school in Solothurn. From 1842, Möllinger travelled in Switzerland, taking daguerreotype photographs of impressive sights and landscapes. The daguerreotype process had been made commercially available from 1839 and had been demonstrated that year in Switzerland. It is not very clear why Möllinger became interested in daguerreotypes but it may well have been because her brother Otto was also the editor of the local Solothurn news sheet which, on 4 April 1839, published a report on

Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photo ...

's work. The ''Solothurner Blatt'' later reported on progress on daguerreotypes on 28 August 1839. In the December edition, Otto Möllinger reported on progress in even greater detail. Franziska Möllinger was the first woman to practise photography in Switzerland and one of the first to produce daguerreotypes. As a woman, she was certainly an exception in a profession which was largely reserved for men. As the daguerreotypes could not be reprinted, she translated her images into lithographed views which could then be duplicated. It has been suggested that, like her Swiss male counterpart

Johann Baptist Isenring Johann Baptist Isenring (12 May 1796, Lütisburg - 9 April 1860, St. Gallen) was a Swiss landscape painter and printer. He was also the first Daguerrotypist in Switzerland. Life and work As a boy, he completed a carpentry apprenticeship in Z� ...

, she travelled with a caravan where she was able to process her dagerrotypes in a darkroom. An advertisement appeared in ''Solothurner Blatt'' No. 28 on 8 April 1843 announcing that Franziska Möllinger was also available for taking photographs of individual and family portraits. In 1844, Möllinger published the first four of the lithographs from her daguerreotypes which she had developed in her studio in

Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the north-west of Switzerland on the banks of the Aare and on the foot of the Weissens ...

. The same year, she went on to publish the first book in German of lithographs based on daguerreotypes. It was titled ''Daguerreotypirte Ansichten der Hauptstädte und der schönsten Gegenden der Schweiz - Vues daguerréotypées des villes capitales de la Suisse ainsi que des contrées les plus intéressantes de ce pays''. Little more is known of Möllinger's life. In 1868, she moved to

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

with her brother where they opened a private school. This was followed by a similar institution in Fluntern. After a prolonged illness, possibly as a result of mercury poisoning from her photographic processing, Franziska Möllinger died of pulmonary complications in

on 26 February 1880.

Gallery of Möllinger's lithographs

This is a selection of the lithographs Möllinger published in 1844 based on her daguerrotypes:

Town scenes

File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 12 aaremühle.tif, Aarmühle File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 5 bern.tif, Bern File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 7 thun.tif, Faulhorn File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 9 interlaken.tif, Interlaken File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 8 thun.tif, Thun

Rural scenes

File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 13 grindelwald.tif, The Grindelwald glacier File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 14 oberer reichenbach.tif, Oberer Reichenbach File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 4 verena schlucht.tif, Verena Schlucht File:Franziska Moellinger GA II 46 15 giessbach.tif, Giessbach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mollinger, Franziska 1817 births 1880 deaths People from Speyer German emigrants to Switzerland People from the canton of Solothurn 19th-century Swiss photographers Swiss women photographers 19th-century lithographers Swiss lithographers 19th-century women photographers Women lithographers