Gezicht op de haven van Napels en de Vesuvius, Italië 1857 - 1914

Giorgio Sommer made this photograph of the harbor of Naples and Mount Vesuvius using albumen print. The albumen process involved coating paper with egg white and then silver nitrate, making it sensitive to light. A glass negative was then placed on the prepared paper, exposed to sunlight, and developed. The resulting print has a characteristic sepia tone and a smooth, glossy surface. In this particular image, the albumen print beautifully captures the crisp details of the harbor, the architecture of Naples, and the looming presence of Vesuvius. What the process also captures, intentionally or not, is a moment in the history of tourism. Sommer mass-produced images like these for sale to visitors to Italy. The relatively quick, cheap medium of photography, and its seemingly objective truth, democratized image-making; it put the power of visual representation into the hands of many. This photograph is therefore not just a scenic view but also an early example of the commodification of culture.