Tempio di Antonino e Faustina 1848 - 1852

Eugène Constant captured this view of the Tempio di Antonino e Faustina using photography, a process of his time. The sepia tones and the texture of the print itself give the image a tactile quality, almost like a fragment rescued from the past. What I find most interesting here is the dialogue between the ancient stone temple and the relatively new medium of photography. The temple, with its massive columns and intricate carvings, speaks of human labor on a grand scale. Each stone was quarried, shaped, and placed with immense effort, a testament to the power of the Roman Empire. Constant's photograph flattens this immense labor through the mechanical process of image-making. Consider, too, the social context: photography was becoming increasingly accessible, but was still a far cry from the instantaneity of the present day. The work involved in producing a high-quality print like this would have been considerable. Constant makes a record and a relic, collapsing time through material and process.