958 - Unknown (19th), Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, around 1880, albumen paper print

Unknown (19th), Basilica of St Francis in Assisi, around 1880, albumen paper print Unknown (19th century): View of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, burial church of St Francis of Assisi, c. 1880, albumen paper print Technique: albumen paper print, mounted on Cardboard Inscription: At the lower part inscribed on the support: "S. Francesco in Assisi". Date: c. 1880 Description: Original photograph with high sharpness of detail. An early testimony of travel photography. Around the middle of the 19th century, more and more tourists from middle-class circles travelled to Italy. At that time, photographs could only be taken with a great deal of time and expensive, unwieldy equipment. This made many tourists all the more grateful for the work of the professional photographer's studios on site to bring back a souvenir from afar for those who stayed at home or to collect as souvenirs. Famous photographers such as Carlo Naya, Giorgio Sommer or the Alinari brothers photographed the most famous sights of their home cities and went on journeys themselves to photograph the most popular destinations of their clients and offer them as albumen prints. Ancient art treasures were also photographed and offered to travellers. The high-quality photographs of sculptures and frescoes continued to make an important contribution to documenting art treasures and making them accessible to scholars from all over Europe, who previously had to rely on tracings or engravings if they could not view the original for themselves. Keywords: Travel photography; Souvenir; Veduta; View; Architectural photography; Sculpture; Renaissance; Francis; Saint; Basilica; Middle Ages; Gothic; Romanesque; Francis of Assisi; Founder of an order; Monk, 19th century, Historicism, Architecture, Italy, Assisi (Umbrian), Size: Cardboard: 25,8 cm x 33,5 cm (10,2 x 13,2 in), Depiction: 19,7 cm x 25,9 cm (7,8 x 10,2 in) Condition: Rather good condition. Photograph and backing clearly wavy. Rough retouching of the photo plate on the right above the portal as well as on the lower left. Soiling of the photographic plate in places. Overall velvety surface, probably without finish with ovalbumin. Underlay board clearly damaged lower right.