973 - Unknown (19th), Mosaic at St Mark’s Basilica, Venice, around 1880, albumen paper print

Unknown (19th), Mosaic at St Mark’s Basilica, Venice, around 1880, albumen paper print Unknown (19th century): Mosaic of a lunette on the façade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Doge venerates the body of St Mark, c. 1880, albumen paper print Technique: albumen paper print, mounted on Cardboard Inscription: At the lower part inscribed in the printing plate: "- Venise - Saint-Marc - mosaique extérieure [...]". Date: c. 1880 Description: Original photograph with high detail sharpness. An early example of travel photography. Around the middle of the 19th century, more and more tourists from bourgeois circles travelled to Italy. At that time, photographs could only be taken at great expense in terms of time and with expensive, unwieldy equipment. This made many tourists all the more grateful for the work of the professional photographer's studios on site, so that they could bring back a souvenir from their holiday home or collect them as mementos. Famous photographers such as Carlo Naya, Giorgio Sommer and the Alinari brothers photographed the most famous sights in their home cities and travelled themselves to photograph their customers' favourite destinations 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 the art treasures and making them accessible to scholars from all over Europe, who previously had to rely on copies or engravings if they were unable to view the original themselves. Keywords: travel photography; souvenir; veduta; view; architectural photography; Italy; church; St Mark's Basilica; San Marco; Byzantine; mosaic; facade; Sebastiano Ricci; Leopoldo del Pozzo; veneration of saints; St; Mark; saint; corpse, 19th century, Historicism, Architecture, Italy, Size: Cardboard: 27,0 cm x 34,0 cm (10,6 x 13,4 in), Depiction: 18,4 cm x 24,6 cm (7,2 x 9,7 in) Condition: Rather good condition. Photograph and backing clearly wavy. Slight light damage and brown discolouration visible in places along the edges. Small liquid stain top left. Tiny damage to the surface in the centre left.