Galerij in Museo Chiaramonti, Vaticaanstad c. 1857 - 1875

James Anderson captured this photograph of the Galleria in the Museo Chiaramonti in the Vatican, a space filled with classical busts and sculptures, frozen in marble. The busts—detached heads, really—lining the gallery walls are powerful symbols. Severed heads have long held a place in our cultural imagination, from the relics of saints to the trophies of conquerors. In ancient times, the head was considered the seat of intellect and spirit. To possess a likeness of a person’s head was to capture some essence of their being. Consider the countless portraits throughout history. The bust, emerging from the stone, can be seen to represent a kind of resurrection, a cultural afterlife. It is as if these figures have been brought back from the depths of time. Anderson's photograph transforms the cold stone into something deeply evocative, reminding us of the enduring human desire to transcend mortality. The ghosts of the past gaze back at us, inviting contemplation on the cyclical nature of history, and the symbols that continue to echo through time.