International events: The “Grand Tour: Russian Version. Florence” exhibition in Moscow

From June 28 to September 11, 2016, the Multimedia Art Museum (Moscow) carries the final exhibition of the “Grand Tour: Russian Version” project, which is completed from the areal and architectural photographs of Florence and Tuscany.

Florence is a birthplace of the Renaissance, the capital of Tuscany, an open-air city-museum with unique architecture and many sights for seeing. Due to its history, “a city on the banks of the Arno” became a must-see destination point on the route of a big travel across the Europe. It is no coincidence that the final exhibition of the “Grand Tour: Russian Version” project offers viewers, who have already committed a photographic journey through Rome, Naples and Venice, to go to Florence and Tuscany.

In the 1850s, the capital of Tuscany becomes an important photographic center of Italy. Scenic and architectural photographs were in demand by travelers who would like to buy as a souvenir a picture of Renaissance monuments. The early history of photography in Florence is connected, first of all, with two family businesses  Alinari and Broggi. Both companies were engaged in scenic view and architectural photo shooting throughout Italy. Giacomo Broggi became famous due to the photographs of the sights of Tuscan towns. His shots are notable for their exactness and laconism of composition, an attention to architectural details.

A florescence of Florentine photography is associated with a name of Alinari. Owning to effective activities of brothers and their contracts with major museums the company quickly gained an international recognition. Already in 1856, a catalog of views of Florence, Siena and Pisa was released. In addition, Alinari played a critical role in the popularization of photographic reproductions of works of Italian art.

Frenchman Alphonse Bern and the Englishman Giovanni Brampton Philpot worked in Florence simultaneously with Alinari and Broggi. Paolo Lombardi, Julio Rossi, Celestino Degus and photographer from Milan's Luigi Sacchi had taken pictures of the main monuments of Pisa, Siena and Genoa.

In the middle of the XIX century engravings of the “The Scenic Journeys” series, started with daguerreotypes and dedicated to the architectural monuments of Europe, gained extraordinary popularity. The exhibition opens with aquatints from the album 'Recueil de Vues Principales de la Toscane' (“Collection of Views of Tuscany”), published in Milan in 1840-1845. These prints were created from the first daguerreotype Italian series of sights of Florence, Pisa and Livorno.

The Russian travelers who visited Florence in the second half of the nineteenth century brought the exhibited photographs. By courtesy of them, we have a chance to get acquainted with the remarkable work of the first Florentine photographers.