Gezicht op Napels met een kasteel c. 1860 - 1880

This is a photograph of Naples with a castle, made by Giorgio Sommer sometime between 1834 and 1914. It’s a stereograph, meaning it's actually two nearly identical images printed side by side. When viewed through a special device, the picture springs into three dimensions. This was a very popular form of entertainment in the late 19th century, and Sommer was one of its leading producers. Think of him as a proto-tourist, capturing views that people would want to take home as souvenirs. The stereograph relied on advances in photographic chemistry and mass production of paper – evidence of the growth of industrial capitalism. Beyond that, though, photography involved a new kind of labor. People like Sommer had to develop an eye for composition, and the skill to manage light and exposure. It may look easy now, but this was painstaking work. Appreciating the image today means understanding the social and technological conditions that made it possible, and recognizing photography's status as both art and industry.