Boog van Titus op het Forum Romanum te Rome, met op de achtergrond het Colosseum c. 1875 - 1900

Gustave Eugène Chauffourier made this photograph of the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum in Rome sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The photograph itself, though seemingly straightforward, involves a complex layering of material processes. Light-sensitive chemicals are applied to paper, a lens focuses the image, and then development techniques reveal the final print. This was a relatively new technology at the time, but it transformed the way people perceived the world. Consider what it meant to capture these ancient monuments with such fidelity, freezing a specific moment in time. Photography democratized access to these wonders, making them available to a wider audience. It also changed the way we consume images, making everything reproducible, turning history into a commodity. Chauffourier's work encourages us to consider photography not just as a recording device, but as a craft deeply intertwined with the social and cultural forces of its time.