[JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE] | A VERY RARE DEPICTION OF A JACQUARD LOOM, WOVEN IN SILK ON A JACQUARD LOOM, LYON, 1844.

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

[JACQUARD, JOSEPH MARIE] — FRANCOIS MICHEL-MARIE CARQUILLAT

Visite de Mgr le Duc D'Aumale à la Croix-Rousse, dans l'atelier de M. Carquillat. Lyon: Didter Petit et cie, 24 Août 1844

Woven image on silk (image: 23 ⅝ x 28 ¾ in.; 604 x 723 mm). Image after Joseph-Marie Jacquard, drawn by A. Manin, woven by M. Carquillat; minor toning, a few minor spots to upper margin. Matted, framed, and glazed to: 47 ¾ x 38 ⅜ in.; 1212 x 972 mm; not examined out of frame.

A RARE IMAGE, WOVEN ON SILK USING THE JACQUARD LOOM AND PUNCH-CARD METHOD

With striking detail, the present image depicts the Duke of Aumale, along with his entourage, paying a visit to the workshop of M. Carquillat, located in the Croix-Rousse area of Lyon. The men stand around the Jacquard loom itself, admiring a woven silk portrait Jacquard seated in a workshop. 

The Jacquard loom used replaceable punched cards to control a sequence of operations, and its invention is considered a seminal development in the history of computing. The ability to change the pattern of the loom's weave simply by switching cards was revolutionary, and proved an important precursor to the development of computer programming. Charles Babbage—often named as the originator of the concept of a digital programmable computer—was familiar with Jacquard's work, and planned to use cards to store programs in his Analytical Engine. Indeed, a large data processing industry using punched-card technology was developed in the first half of the 20th century, with IBM initially dominating this field, and remained in use until the mid 1980s.