Trevifontein te Rome before 1907

This is a photograph of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, made by Edizione Brogi, a name that suggests a collective or studio rather than a single artist. The photograph is a study in greys. There is so much grey here. It’s a very tonal work, all about the gradations from light to dark, and the way light describes form. The surface of the print itself must have a particular texture that adds to that quality of light. It’s a reminder that photography, like painting, is a material process, not just a window onto the world. Look at how the water is captured, it’s not frozen, but somehow made solid, like another kind of stone. The fountain is caught in time, fixed forever by the photographic process. Think of the Futurists, like Boccioni, and their attempts to capture motion in static form. This photograph does something similar, freezing a moment of dynamic energy into a still, contemplative image. It's an image about the dialogue between time and stillness, between the ephemeral and the permanent.