“A mirror endowed with memory…” Photography, Artists & the Art Market in late 19C Florence

Lecture in English by  Lynn Catterson

 

This talk takes as its point of departure the first moments when photographs began to replace engravings as a means of reproducing art.  The site of this transition was the Florentine print shop of Luigi Bardi, who encouraged and supported the young Leopoldo Alinari (1832-1865) to set up an adjacent laboratory for photography in 1853.  Using as a case study the 100-year activity of the dealers Stefano & Ugo Bardini, with its photo archive of some 15,000 photographs, this talk examines the many ways the various types of photographs were used in the service of transacting art.

 

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