Gezicht op het ziekenhuis te Venetië, Italië 1863 - 1914

This photograph of the hospital in Venice was created by Giorgio Sommer in the late 19th century. Sommer was a key figure in the commercialization of photography, and his albumen prints like this one catered to tourists eager to capture the beauty of Italy. The albumen process itself is fascinating. Paper was coated with egg white and then sensitized with silver nitrate, creating a surface that could record a highly detailed image. This was a labor-intensive process, demanding skilled hands to prepare and print the photographs. The warm sepia tones we see here are characteristic of albumen prints, a result of the chemical reactions during development. Sommer's photographs, while seemingly straightforward documents, also speak to the burgeoning tourist industry and the commodification of culture. They remind us that even seemingly objective images are the product of specific technologies, economic forces, and human labor.