[Spanish Steps, Rome]

ca. 1875

Not on view

This unconventional depiction of Rome’s famous Spanish Steps contrasts a row of vertical pillars against horizontal bands of shadow to produce a modernist effect. Chauffourier, a French photographer active in Palermo and Naples before settling in Rome in the early 1870s, documented both the tourist sites and the quotidian corners of the newly minted capital of the Kingdom of Italy. His oblique approach, which emphasized the architectural details of staircases, courtyards, and fountains to appeal to the city’s artistic community, was inspired by the earlier work of Carlo Baldassarre Simelli, whose studio Chauffourier took over in 1873.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: [Spanish Steps, Rome]
Artist: Gustave Eugène Chauffourier (French, 1845–1919)
Date: ca. 1875
Medium: Albumen silver print
Dimensions: 27.5 x 21 cm (10 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Howard Gilman Foundation Gift, 2005
Object Number: 2005.147
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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