Gezicht op de Uffizi in Florence met in het midden het Palazzo Vecchio c. 1865 - 1890

This photograph shows the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and was made by the Brogi firm. The image makes use of a long perspective to create meaning: the Palazzo Vecchio at the centre leads our eye, the architectural design is in keeping with the classical ideals that defined the Renaissance here, and the perspective is in keeping with the principles of linear perspective developed during that time. The camera records the location in meticulous detail to create a picture of Italian civic pride. The image was made at a time when Italy was building its national identity and its own great institutions. Photography had a role to play in this, as it was both art form and documentation. Photographic archives, official records, and guidebooks, are helpful resources that allow us to understand this image in its fuller social and institutional context. They underline that the art of this period was always contingent on the prevailing social and political conditions.