RARE 1860's HAND-COLORED ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH ALBUM OF NAPLES BY GIORGIO CONRAD For Sale

Offered is an exceptional19th-century photograph album containing approximately 35 original photographs, predominantly hand-colored cartes-de-visite depicting the people, occupations, costumes and everyday street life of Naples, Italy. The collection dates primarily from the1860s–1870sand includes photographs bearing the studio mark of noted Naples photographerGiorgio Conrad, Strada Fontana Medina 54, Napoli, together with photographs attributed or marked to other Neapolitan studios, includingG. Chianese.

The photographs present an unusually rich visual record of19th-century Neapolitan popular life. Subjects include street vendors, food sellers, musicians, children, beggars, craftsmen, families, basket sellers, itinerant merchants, traditional costumes and occupational “types.” Particularly striking images include musicians with harp and violin, street-food and pasta scenes, vendors carrying baskets and merchandise, children and family groups, a woman posed with a goat, elaborately costumed figures, and large multi-figure compositions. Several photographs appear to belong tonumbered commercial photographic series produced for the Naples tourist and Grand Tour market.

A major feature of the collection is itsextensive original hand coloring. Rather than simple tinted portraits, many photographs have been individually embellished with vivid color applied to clothing, food, baskets, instruments, merchandise and other details. Some photographer's mounts are specifically marked“Peinture à Gouache.”The resulting images combine early photography with highly detailed hand-painted decoration and are considerably more visually dramatic than conventional monochrome cartes-de-visite.

The photographs remain housed in theiroriginal period album, an ornate small-format volume with decorated boards, gilt page edges, metal clasp and heavy embossed photographic mounts. A period presentation/ownership inscription is present near the front of the album. Several original photographer's backmarks remain visible, providing important evidence of the collection's Naples origins. The brochure photographs document both the album's exterior and its surviving contents. The album itself exhibits age-related wear, including rubbing, edge and spine wear, binding deterioration and several empty photographic openings, while many of the photographs retainstrong images and remarkably vibrant hand coloring.

Date:c. 1860s–1870s
Origin:Naples (Napoli), Italy
Photographer represented:Giorgio Conrad (1827–1889)
Other studio represented:G. Chianese and possibly additional Naples photographers
Format:Primarily carte-de-visite albumen photographs
Photograph count:Approximately35 surviving photographs
Color:Numerous extensively hand-colored examples, including gouache-painted photographs
Subjects:Street vendors, musicians, children, beggars, food sellers, craftsmen, families, traditional dress and Neapolitan occupational types
Album:Original decorated 19th-century photographic album with gilt edges and clasp
Condition:Antique condition with expected album wear and some vacant apertures; photographs generally display well, with numerous examples retaining unusually strong applied color.

This is not simply a collection of Victorian portraits. It is acoherent period visual record of Naples and Neapolitan street culture during the early decades of photography, assembled in its original album and incorporating work from identifiable Naples photographic studios. Its combination ofearly photography, extensive hand coloring, social history, Grand Tour interest and identifiable Giorgio Conrad photographsmakes the album particularly appealing to collectors of early photography, Italian history, Naples, ethnographic imagery and 19th-century travel.

The album is being offered intact as a single historic collection; the photographs have not been removed from their original period mounts.