Basilica di S. Pietro [Saint Peter’s Basilica], plate 1 from “Roma”

This photographic album of Roman sights and famous works of art dates from a pivotal time in the history of photography. It is the kind that would have been accessible to travelers of average means, but because photography did not have the ubiquity of our own age, it would still have been treasured. Opinions about the use and value of photography varied at this time; at least one critic, writing in 1859, felt that some photographers still aspired to art, while others turned out views on a much larger scale. James Anderson (born Isaac Atkinson) sits somewhere between these two poles; while capable of breathtaking views of Rome, he was also a successful businessman who catered to tourists. Anderson was one of the best known and most prolific of the early photographers working in Rome. He came to Rome as early as 1838, initially as a watercolorist but taking up photography by 1845.

This album, in many respects, follows conventions established by the vedutisti of the previous century. It starts with this view of St. Peter’s and Bernini’s colonnade; although it is disconcerting to see the piazza all but empty of people, this may be in large part due to the long exposure required, which would have only captured those standing absolutely still. There follows from this point a good mixture of modern and ancient Roman sights. The final plates of the book are devoted to artistic monuments such as Michelangelo’s Moses and Raphael’s Transfiguration of Christ, and the Lacoön group in the Vatican Museum. Anderson sold his photographs in Joseph Spithöver’s shop in the Piazza di Spagna, which was well situated because many of the hostels frequented by tourists were located there. Indeed, this piazza is featured as one of the pages in this album, with one such lodging, the Albergo d’Europa, visible in the background. The subject of this particular view, the Colonna della Concezione (today known as the Colonna dell’Immacolata), was erected in December of 1857, which serves as the photograph’s and the album’s terminus post quem.

(Andrew C. Weislogel, “Mirror of the City: The Printed View in Italy and Beyond, 1450–1940,” catalogue accompanying an exhibition organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, curated by Andrew C. Weislogel and Stuart M. Blumin, and presented at the Johnson Museum August 11–December 23, 2012)