Sculptuur van Narcissus before 1879

Giorgio Sommer created this photograph of a sculpture of Narcissus in the late 19th century. It freezes the moment in the Greek myth when Narcissus becomes entranced by his own reflection. But consider the social context around Sommer's work. Based in Naples, he catered to the booming tourist trade, documenting classical sculptures and Roman ruins. Photography, in its relative cheapness and portability, democratized access to art and culture. No longer did one need to travel to museums to view these objects. Instead, one could buy an album of Sommer’s photographs as a souvenir. Sommer’s work also intersects with the rise of archaeology and the scientific study of antiquity. Photography provided a seemingly objective means of documenting and disseminating knowledge about the classical world. The act of photographing art becomes a claim about what is considered culturally valuable, one made possible by the new technologies and institutions of the time. To truly understand this image, we need to consider Sommer’s commercial context, the history of photography, and the classical tradition.