Tempio di Nettuao Pesto 19th-20th century

Giorgio Sommer made this albumen silver print of the Tempio di Nettuao Pesto, or Temple of Neptune in Paestum, Italy, sometime in the mid-19th century. Sommer's choice of photography as a medium is interesting, because of how new it was at the time. Photography mechanized image-making, making it quick and relatively cheap. Sommer was tapping into the new economies of tourism that were developing in Europe. What’s especially interesting is to see how the image depicts the temple. Think of all the labor that went into creating it. We can almost feel the weight of each massive stone block. Its ruined state also speaks volumes, implying the decline of a civilization, and raising questions about what kind of labor and cultural production lasts. Considering the temple and the photograph side by side, you can start to see the complicated relationship between handcraft and industrialization, which is still very much with us today.