Italy - 187 sepia tone photographs, end 19th c., relating to Italy, c. 26.5 x 20 cm, mounted on 168 boards, 29.5 x 24 cm (some boards with photogr. pasted recto verso, boards dusty with sometimes frayed edges, some photogr. with sm. defects).
Estimation :
400 / 500
Adjudication :
Invendu
Description
Photos kept in a filing box in openworked wood with an incorporated sliding magnifying glass (front panel and sliding system damaged but almost all pieces preserved, some of the openworked wood broken). The viewing system with magnifying glass is called a graphoscope : a 19th-century device used in parlors in order to enhance the viewing of photographs and text. A photo/card holder was usually also included although our copy with a larger photo holder is rather rare. In gilt lettering on the front "Italie 1893". The box shows three compartments for the accompanying photographs. Only one photographer's name on 1 photo : James Anderson (1813 - 1877) or Domenico (son, 1854-1914). James was a British watercolorist and photographer who moved to Italy in the late 1830s and became one of the leading photographers of architectural sites, landscapes and photographic copies of paintings. Domenico continued the photographic business after his father died. Photos of several cities such as Pisa, Rome, Turin, Milan, Venise, Bologna, Florence, Pompei, etc. Several monuments : St Pieter's Basilica, The Lateran Basilica, Sixtine Chapel, Pantheon, statues, Forum Romanum, Trevi Fountain, city gates, interiors and exteriors of churches, tombs, ruins, temples, Mount Palatin, Colosseum, etc. Among the images also photos of engravings, paintings and sculptures. Most photos with legend and number. *** See also 290
