971 - Unknown (19th century), The vestibule of St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, around 1880, albumen paper print

Unknown (19th century), The vestibule of St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice, around 1880, albumen paper print Unknown (19th century): Vestibule of St. Mark’s Basilica with mosaics on the domes, Venice, c. 1880, albumen paper print Technique: albumen paper print, mounted on cardboard Inscription: At the bottom, inscribed on the backing: "-Venise - Vestibule de St. Marc [...]". Date: c. 1880 Description: Original photograph with high level of detail and sharpness. An early example of travel photography. Around the middle of the 19th century, more and more tourists from bourgeois circles traveled to Italy. At that time, taking photographs required a great deal of time and involved expensive, cumbersome equipment. This made many tourists all the more grateful for the services of professional photography studios on site, allowing them to bring home a souvenir from their vacation 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 traveled themselves to photograph their customers’ favorite destinations, offering these images as albumen prints. Ancient art treasures were also photographed and made available to travelers. The high-quality photographs of sculptures and frescoes continued to make an important contribution to documenting these 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 originals themselves. Keywords: travel photography; souvenir; veduta; view; architectural photography; Italy; church; St. Mark’s Basilica; San Marco; mosaic; Byzantine, 19th century, Historicism, Architecture, Italy, Size: Cardboard: 34.0 cm x 27.0 cm (13.4 x 10.6 in), Image: 23.7 cm x 19.3 cm (9.3 x 7.6 in) Condition: In fairly good condition. The photograph and backing are noticeably wavy. Slight light damage and brown discoloration are visible in places along the edges.