Fauno Ebbrio 19th-20th century

Giorgio Sommer made this photograph in the 19th century, using the wet collodion process on paper. This process, widespread at the time, involved coating a glass plate with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it in a camera, and then developing the image immediately. It was labor intensive, yet relatively cheap. The resulting glass negative would then be used to print multiple images, like this one. In this photograph, Sommer documents a bronze sculpture of a drunken faun. What’s fascinating here is the interplay between the hand-made sculpture, a unique artwork, and the photographic reproduction, which is inherently multiple. This contrast raises interesting questions: Is Sommer simply recording the sculpture, or is he also exploiting its image for wider circulation, tied to the rise of mass media and tourism? By understanding the photographic processes used, we gain a richer appreciation of the image itself, and its place within the broader social and economic context of the time.