Beeld van Piero Capponi in een nis van de Uffizi, Florence before 1863

This photograph by Giacomo Brogi, taken in Florence, shows a statue of Piero Capponi, who lived from 1447 to 1496. Capponi was a Florentine statesman and soldier. He is remembered chiefly for his role in defending Florence against the invasion of Charles VIII of France in 1494. When Charles demanded an exorbitant sum from the city, Capponi famously declared "Then we shall sound our bells!" This act of defiance became a symbol of Florentine resistance to foreign domination. Brogi was active at a time of political and social change in Italy, as the country moved toward unification. Florence was at the heart of debates about Italian identity, particularly its relationship with the classical past. This photograph, therefore, contributes to the construction of a national narrative, connecting contemporary Italy with its Renaissance heritage. To understand the image fully, we might ask: How did the institutions of nineteenth-century Italy shape understandings of the Renaissance? What role did photography play in the construction of collective memory? These are the kinds of questions that a social history of art seeks to answer.