Fotoreproductie van het fresco Ontmoeting van Jacob en Esau en de roof van Dina naar Benozzo Gozzoli in het Camposanto te Pisa, Italië 1857 - 1900

This photograph documents a fresco in the Camposanto in Pisa, Italy, originally painted by Benozzo Gozzoli. It was reproduced by Fratelli Alinari, a company known for its photographic documentation of Italian art. The materiality here is two-fold: we have the original fresco, made by applying pigments to wet plaster, a technique demanding speed and precision. Gozzoli would have combined natural mineral pigments like ochre, ground lapis lazuli, and malachite with water, and then applied them onto the prepared wall surface. The result is a layered image, bound together by the chemistry of the fresco process. Then, there is the photographic reproduction, which translates the fresco into a portable, reproducible image. Alinari's studio democratized access to great works of art through mass production. This in itself changes our appreciation of the image, from unique handcrafted artwork to commodity. Consider the labor involved in both the original fresco and its photographic reproduction and the social implications of this shift in access and value.