1111 Napoli Piazza del plebiscito c. 1893 - 1903

This photograph of the Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples was made by Giorgio Sommer in the late nineteenth century, using a process that was relatively new at the time. Consider how different this image is, from, say, a painting or an etching. Photography was arguably the first truly industrial medium. And that meant a different relationship between the artist and their work. Sommer could create this image relatively quickly, and then reproduce it, selling it to tourists. And that’s exactly what he did. Sommer had studios in Naples and Rome, and a very successful business in photographic views, and also images of classical sculpture. What does this mean for how we understand his work? Well, for one thing, it alerts us to the importance of commerce in culture, a factor that has only increased since Sommer’s time. He wasn’t just an artist, but an entrepreneur too.