Fotoreproductie van (vermoedelijk) een prent naar een muurschildering in Pompeï, voorstellend een verkoopster van cupido's c. 1860 - 1900

This is a photographic reproduction by Giorgio Sommer, likely made in the late 19th century, of a print taken from a wall painting in Pompeii, and it depicts a vendor of cupids. Sommer, working in Italy, catered to the burgeoning tourist trade which was fascinated by the archaeological discoveries at sites like Pompeii. Consider the layers of representation here: Sommer’s photograph mediates a print, which itself mediates an ancient Roman fresco. The scene stages a transaction, a commercial exchange of love itself. But who has access to love, and at what cost? In the fresco, cupids are for sale, contained in a cage, their wings clipped – a potent symbol of constrained desire. The women are the purchasers, but is it freedom or commodification that’s being depicted? Sommer’s photograph is a nineteenth-century appropriation of a Roman depiction of love as a market exchange, prompting us to reflect on how desire, agency, and historical context intertwine across millennia.