Gezicht op de Strada della Abbondanza te Pompeï, Italië 1870 - 1890

Editor: So, this photograph is called 'Gezicht op de Strada della Abbondanza te Pompeï, Italië' – a mouthful! It's a gelatin-silver print by Giorgio Sommer, taken sometime between 1870 and 1890. The strong sunlight and long shadows give the scene a rather melancholy feel, despite its subject being this ancient Roman street. What do you see in it? Curator: What strikes me is the role of the photograph itself in shaping our understanding of Pompeii and antiquity more broadly. Sommer, by choosing this perspective down the Strada della Abbondanza, creates a very particular visual experience. It's not just about documentation, it's about creating a romantic, even tragic, vision of the past. Editor: Tragic how? Is it because we know what happened there, with Mount Vesuvius? Curator: Exactly. But it's more than just knowing. Sommer’s lens and the photographic process itself – the grayscale tones, the visible ruins – imbue the image with a sense of loss, of a vibrant society frozen in time and subsequently excavated, interpreted, and presented to the modern world for consumption. Think about who would have bought and viewed these photographs in the late 19th century. What did Pompeii represent to them? Editor: Maybe a cautionary tale, or a way to feel connected to this grand, classical past. Were these photos meant to be souvenirs for tourists? Curator: Precisely. And this gets to the core of the politics of imagery. The photo served as a token of travel, but more importantly, it solidified a specific visual narrative about the ancient world—one of romantic ruin readily packaged for the European bourgeois. And the image persists with its cultural context and associations. What do you think, having considered the context? Editor: That’s a good point, it definitely adds another layer to the photograph itself – thinking about who would be consuming this image and why. Curator: Indeed. It's a reminder that even seemingly objective records like photographs are laden with cultural meaning and intention.