Gezicht op een brug in Piedigrotta te Napels, Italië 1857 - 1914

Giorgio Sommer made this photograph of a bridge in Piedigrotta, Naples, Italy, sometime in the mid-19th century. Naples, then under Bourbon rule, was a city of stark contrasts, a place where natural beauty met urban poverty. Sommer, a German photographer who established a studio in Naples, catered to the burgeoning tourist industry. In this image, we see a picturesque scene, a carefully composed view that highlights the area's charm. But let’s consider what's not in the frame. Where are the city’s disenfranchised, the working class whose labor propped up this society? Sommer's photographs, while aesthetically pleasing, participated in a broader cultural narrative that often romanticized the lives of some while erasing others. They remind us to consider whose stories are told and whose are left out. What is the relationship between beauty and truth and how do these images shape our understanding of history?