Interieur van de Cappella Palatina te Palermo, Sicilië 1857 - 1914

Giorgio Sommer made this photograph of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily, using the wet collodion process, a popular technique in the mid-19th century. This process involved coating a glass plate with a light-sensitive chemical emulsion, exposing it in the camera while still wet, and then immediately developing it. Look closely, and you'll see the amazing detail that could be achieved. But the process was painstaking, requiring portable darkrooms and a race against time before the emulsion dried. Sommer, like many photographers of his era, was as much a chemist and craftsman as he was an artist. The resulting albumen print, made from egg whites, gives the image a distinctive, almost ethereal quality. This wasn't just about documenting the space; it was about mastering a complex process to capture a moment in time. This photograph reminds us that even in the age of mechanical reproduction, human skill and ingenuity were essential.