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Programmer Buys Original Ada Lovelace Painting On eBay

Posted by kdawson on from the mother-of-us-all dept.

An anonymous reader sends the story of the rediscovery of an original painting of Ada Byron at about age 4, the girl who was to become Countess Lovelace and the world's first computer programmer. A US Army sergeant in Tajikistan caught wind of an eBay auction of a 180-year-old painting of Ada Byron, with provenance; he notified a programmer buddy in Texas, who won the auction.

30 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. In Other News... by poopdeville · · Score: 4, Funny

    Painting is Closest Texas Man Will Get to a Woman

    --
    After all, I am strangely colored.
  2. oh.... ADA Lovelace... by bennomatic · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was thinking of a different Lovelace...

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  3. suspicious? by ILuvRamen · · Score: 4, Insightful
    well pardon me for being skeptical but after reading:

    It was assumed that the original portrait had been lost forever, until a Canadian antique dealer put the original framed watercolor sketch on eBay
    I think it might still be lost forever if you know what I mean. Usually when someone just kinda "finds" a painting and puts it straight to ebay, IT'S A FAKE!
    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
    1. Re:suspicious? by cavePrisoner · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Experts soon agreed that the portrait was done in the 1820s when Ada was approximately four-years-old. Perhaps the experts are wrong, but personally I'm of the opinion that if its good enough for the experts its good enough for me.
    2. Re:suspicious? by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Informative

      Two words - "with provenance".

      Paintings of nobility from the 1800's are not in short supply, they are usually valued by the reputation of the artist not the subject of the painting. It's much more likely that the dealer had no idea why geeks would be more interested than art collectors.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    3. Re:suspicious? by will_die · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the item shown in the article is the "provenance" then it does not qualify.
      A real provenance needs to make specific reference to the article and have specific and traceable details about the past owners. This looks to be just a quick history of the painter, if it was the correct painter. There is nothing that directly relates to the painting or who the painting is of.

      As for the subject I presume they would of done a quick search of the subject, the painter, Frank Stone ARA, is fairly famous for his painting and mainly for being the father of Marcus Stone. Marcus was really famous in his time and was a close friend of Charles Dickens. Any search for Ada Byron links right to a history of her. So you have a painter who has some name recognition and a named subject who is easy to research; tie that in with a tech savy, sells on ebay(tech savy may be a strech) but aleast is capable of doing some searching.

      BTW, what was the final selling price for this?

    4. Re:suspicious? by leicaman · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Robert is a friend of mine. Has been for almost 20 years. And I can confirm this is real as far as he is concerned, and he's done his best to confirm its veractiy. It's not a fake. And such accusations without proof are libelous (being in written form), no doubt based on jealousy, not to mention is basically irrational.

      --
      Eric
      If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. - Pugh
    5. Re:suspicious? by UnanimousCoward · · Score: 3, Funny

      And, I have a grilled cheese sandwich with the likeness of Ada that I'm about to sell the dude...

      --
      Twelve-and-three-quarter inches. Unyielding. This wand belonged to Bellatrix Lestrange.
    6. Re:suspicious? by j_166 · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Perhaps you should've said "Just like Clinton has some sort of contract in place to protect her if George Bush turns out to be fake, You have to assume that there was some sort of contract between them""

      I'll be damned if I can find the car reference in your analogy. Therefore, its not a proper analogy. Are you sure you didn't mean ""Just like Clinton has some sort of contract in place to protect her if George Bush turns out to be fake, You have to assume that there was some sort of contract between them, sort of like the contract you have with your neighbors not to steal your car when you leave it unlocked and running at the post office""?

    7. Re:suspicious? by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Informative

      And I can confirm this is real as far as he is concerned, and he's done his best to confirm its veractiy.

      Who cares what he believes or what he's 'confirmed'. 'Provenance' in the art and antiques world means something - it means an expert has performed the research and certifies the item is real. For an item this important, it's a quasi legal document, signed and notarized - with a full description of the item, a full description of the research, and a full description of why the expert believes the item in question to be real. It's not a handwritten biography of the supposed subject of the provenance on a sheet of letterhead.
       
      Mandatory disclaimer: I have been a used and rare bookseller and have dealt with provenances on a minor basis.

      And such accusations without proof are libelous (being in written form), no doubt based on jealousy, not to mention is basically irrational.

      Wrong on all three counts.
  4. A.I... by headkase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ada Lovelace was the daughter of Lord Byron who was strongly associated and interacted greatly with Percy Shelly who was married to Mary Shelly. Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein which - wrapped in the language of the times - was a stab at Artificial Intelligence - but without intelligence separated from the physical representation (i.e. no concept of an artifact such as a computer) so artificial life was the metaphor instead. Blah blah blah I should go on Jeopardy.

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:A.I... by headkase · · Score: 4, Funny

      Shelley! Shelley! I'll take foot in mouth for $1000 Alex.

      --
      Shh.
    2. Re:A.I... by anagama · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And don't forget that Frankenstein was likely due in part to the frigid summer caused by the eruption of Mt. Tambora. That should be good for a bonus point or two.
      http://frankensteinia.blogspot.com/2008/01/frankensteins-volcano.html

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    3. Re:A.I... by batquux · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ok, so just following your lead here....
      Colin Clive played Dr. Frankenstein in the 1931 movie, then was in Clive of India (1935) with Don Ameche, who was in Things Change (1988) with Clark Gregg, who was in The Air I Breathe (2007) with Kevin Bacon.

  5. Next up.... by grilled-cheese · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next up on the auction block, the moth Grace Hopper pulled from a Mark II on September 9th, 1947.

    1. Re:Next up.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That stupid moth keeps showing up in all my computer programs. You can have it!

  6. Sorry by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Informative

    I can't give "world's first computer programmer" to Ada Lovelace - I have to give it to Joseph Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard Loom. Babbage's Analytical Engine was to use cards - based on Jacquard's idea.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Sorry by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I can't give "world's first computer programmer" to Ada Lovelace - I have to give it to Joseph Marie Jacquard

      But Jacquard wasn't programming a computer - he was programming a loom. Not that we're not indebted to him, but a loom is not a computer.

      --
      There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
    2. Re:Sorry by RodgerDodger · · Score: 4, Informative

      Got to back that up. Babbage always gave credit to Jacquard for the idea (of using cards), but his personal spin on it was to make it general purpose - to solve any problem that could be expressed in the form of an algorithm.

      That's the power of the computer - the fact that it is general purpose, not single purpose.

      FWIW Jacquard got the idea of using cards to control looms from earlier mechanised looms that used cylinders with raised dots - which in turn came from mechanical music organs.

      --
      "Software is too expensive to build cheaply"
    3. Re:Sorry by cpuffer_hammer · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But since the Analytical Engine was never built (within her lifetime). She was never faces with debugging, code maintenance, or any of the other boring parts of the programmers trade. So can she really be given the credit of "world's first computer programmer". Or is it unfair to blame a software person because the hardware developers let the schedule slip.

    4. Re:Sorry by Magada · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, you have your answer right there in your question. Didn't debug or test before releasing, code maintenance is left to whoever inherits it, there's almost no documentation and there are no comments in code. A Real Programmer through and through, if you ask me.

      --
      Something bad is coming when people are suddenly anxious to tell the truth.
    5. Re:Sorry by lamona · · Score: 2, Informative
      The difference between the Jacquard Loom and Babbage's Analytical engine is explained by Ada Lovelace in her Notes on the Analytical Engine:

      The Analytical Engine, on the contrary, is not merely adapted for tabulating the results of one particular function and of no other, but for developing and tabulating any function whatever. In fact the engine may be described as being the material expression of any indefinite function of any degree of generality and complexity, such as for instance, F(x, y, z, log x, sin y, x p, &c.), which is, it will be observed, a function of all other possible functions of any number of quantities.

      In other words, the jacquard loom could follow a set sequence, but the analytical engine could be programmed to tabulate any mathematical function. That is the brilliance of Babbage's work.

      In his Sketch, Babbage lays out the workings of the Analytical Engine, but only Ada's notes point out, in clear language, the true impact of his discovery.

      --
      I just read /. for the amusing .sigs
  7. I was excited until... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...I read that the painting was done before she got all hot. Go recover paintings of her from her twenties!

  8. Let's not neglect Percy by symbolset · · Score: 4, Informative

    Shelly "is widely considered to be among the finest lyric poets of the English language."

    That's a strong endorsement. Lord Byron had an interesting group of characters about him. Between them they make Generation X look like a bunch of prudes.

    Since he died before Mickey Mouse was born, you can find all of his works here at project Gutenberg.

    Oh - support Project Gutenberg. When works in the public domain are forgotten we all lose something precious.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  9. First Program by kemushi88 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What do you suppose a "Hello, World" program looks like for an analytical engine?

  10. About Lady Ada by vigmeister · · Score: 5, Funny

    In spite of inpiring generations of programmers, Lady Ada Lovelace remains the last known female programmer. According to lore, Countess Lovelace developed a protocol for what is now known as instant messaging. When she armed the regular patrons of 'Ye Olde Slash of the Dot' with this technique, she found herself endlessly harassed by messages inexplicably containing the letters A, S and L separated by slashes. She purportedly proceeded to found a secret organization that trains female programmers but also strictly forbids them from identifying their professions to the male species. Patrons of the similarly community gathering location named Slashdot are still eagerly awaiting the first woman who is caught unawares so that they can ask her if she would like to cyber.

    Cheers!

    --
    Atheist: Buddhist in a Prius
  11. The Cogwheel Brain by 91degrees · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Doran Swade's book - The Cogwheel Brain - it's suggested that Ada Lovelace's influence on computer software was somewhat exaggerated. Letters from her certainly suggest she had a severely inflated ego.

    As far as major role models for female software developers go I pick Grace Hopper, who is on record as having had considerable involvement in computer development, and may, or may not have coined the term "computer bug".

  12. Prayer to Lady Ada by Johnny+Fusion · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lady Ada,
    Look down upon this humble coder,
    Guide me with your unerring logic.

    Lady Ada,
    Inspire me with your genius,
    may I code a thing of beauty.

    Lady Ada,
    You set the path before me,
    may I follow it for the rest of my days.

    --
    There are two kinds of fool. One says, This is old, and therefore good. And one says, This is new, and therefore better.
  13. Motive? by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And such accusations without proof are libelous (being in written form), no doubt based on jealousy, not to mention is basically irrational.
    Wrong on all three counts.

    Let's see, the OP is saying he is convinced the painting is real, he is doing his best to shut up anyone questioning his claim, and he is claiming anyone who does question his claim is irrational.

    You know, if someone was trying to sell a fake they'd do these exact three things. Make a claim, try to silence opposition to the claim, and discredit his detractors.

    I'm not saying it is a fake, I'm just saying this guy is obviously paving the way for selling the painting, but doing it exactly like a con artist would. Don't believe me? Check out antiques auctions on eBay. The guys who are full of bologna do the exact same song and dance. Especially people selling old armour. Bury it in their backyard for a few months, dig it up, then make those kind of statements.

    "This is a real Roman Cavalry helmet."
    "Stop nitpicking about the details or I'll report you to eBay abuse. You're screwing up my auction."
    "If you not a real historian then shut up, you don't know what you're talking about."

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
    1. Re:Motive? by DerekLyons · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Let's see, the OP is saying he is convinced the painting is real, he is doing his best to shut up anyone questioning his claim, and he is claiming anyone who does question his claim is irrational.

      Not quite - the OP is a friend of the buyer and is defending him.
       
       

      You know, if someone was trying to sell a fake they'd do these exact three things. Make a claim, try to silence opposition to the claim, and discredit his detractors.

      Much more likely the friend (Robert) has a great deal of emotional investment in his collection - and his friend is merely trying to defend him. Such is life online. (Notice the typical threats of libel, veiled attacks ad hominem etc...?)
       
       

      I'm not saying it is a fake, I'm just saying this guy is obviously paving the way for selling the painting, but doing it exactly like a con artist would. Don't believe me? Check out antiques auctions on eBay. The guys who are full of bologna do the exact same song and dance. Especially people selling old armour. Bury it in their backyard for a few months, dig it up, then make those kind of statements.

      Oh, I could tell you tales that would curl your hair from when I ran a used and rare bookstore... You wouldn't believe the stories people will tell.
       
      But the thing that makes me wonder is why the painting showed up on eBay. If the antique dealer is serious and knowledgeable and the piece is provably authentic... Then I'd expect it to appear at a real auction house, not on eBay.
       
      Actually, rereading the article, I note something interesting - there is no claim the painting was ever really authenticated. Only that unnamed 'experts' dated it. (Which in reality is something impossible to do right without physically examining the artifact.)
       
      I'm not sure it's a deliberate con - but it does smell of amateurs who haven't done the homework they aren't qualified to do in the first place.