Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Reproductions by Fratelli Alinari

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Judith with the head of Holofernes
painting by Cristofano Allori
formerly ascribed to Bronzino

photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
The Concert
painting by Titian
formerly ascribed to Giorgione

Palazzo Pitti, Florence
photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari in Florence began selling souvenir photographs in 1852. It remains in business today as the world's oldest photographic firm. The examples gathered here were produced and marketed at the end of the 19th century and in the first years of the 20th. Most were presumably brought back by Dutch travelers, since they eventually came to rest at the Rijksmuseum – there to be lovingly scanned and freely published.

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Portrait of Baccio Valori
painted by Sebastiano del Piombo
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Portrait of Margarita Luti (La donna velata)
painted by Raphael
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Pauline Bonaparte as Venus Victrix
marble sculpture by Antonio Canova
 Galleria Borghese, Rome

photographed ca. 1893-1903
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Aeneas carrying Anchises out of burning Troy
marble sculpture by Gianlorenzo Bernini
Galleria Borghese, Rome

photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Venus of Syracuse
Roman marble sculpture

photographed ca. 1875-1900
Hermitage, St Petersburg

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Venus of Syracuse
Roman marble sculpture

photographed ca. 1875-1900
Hermitage, St Petersburg

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Capitoline Venus
Roman marble sculpture

photographed c1893-1903
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Neptune fountain
Boboli Gardens, Florence

photographed ca. 1855
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Statue Gallery
Vatican Museums,  Rome

photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Piazza del Popolo, Rome
photographed ca. 1880-95
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Arch of Constantine, Rome
photographed ca. 1893-1903
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Fratelli Alinari (Florence)
Roman Forum
photographed ca. 1893-1903
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Roman Forum

The Forum, glory of departed time!
Where temples dazzled, arches rose sublime,
And statues burned with life  what see we now?
A few pale columns point to what hath been,
The last, long sorrowing orphans of the scene,
And mouldered walls, fair marbles, ages' spoil,
Reluctant mingle with the meaner soil:
Still Phocas' pillar sturggles with decay,
And thy bold arch, Severus, spans the way;
But gone the car, and lightning-breathing steed,
And where an emperor stood, now waves the weed;
No more along the Forum's stately side
The musing sage sweeps by in toga'd pride,
Or hear we from the platform's glittering beak
The fiery orator in thunder speak;
But there the herdsman leans, and sheep and swine
Pollute the once rich path and radiant shrine:
Caesar, Augustus, Tully! gaze ye here,
Frown from thy grave, and drop th'indignant tear.

 Nicholas Michell (1807-1880)