An external gaze: the Sicilian cultural heritage photographed by foreign travellers during the second half of 19th century

Since its origin, photography was immediately involved in a lively debate about the relationships that this new technology could have with Art, its production, its exploitation and its conservation: even if it was perceived as a potential threat by someone, several voices emphasized the revolutionary influence that photography could have on the arts. It soon became clear that the new media could also be used for the documentation of events and cultural assets, and thus as a tool for knowledge and safeguarding of the artistic and monumental heritage. Photography will soon inherit the role of nature’s copyist traditionally attributed to engraving but, due to its technological limitations, its…

Visti dagli altri: il patrimonio culturale siciliano fotografato dagli stranieri

La ricerca è incentrata sulla produzione riguardante il patrimonio monumentale, archeologico e storico-artistico siciliano realizzata da fotografi d'oltralpe, tra la seconda metà del XIX e gli inizi del XX secolo. Tramite l’analisi dell’evoluzione della rappresentazione del patrimonio siciliano da un punto di vista esterno, si vogliono individuare i principali soggetti di predilezione, le motivazioni alla base di queste scelte e l’influenza di questa iconografia nella costituzione dell’identità locale.

A look from outside: foreign photographers in Palermo between the 19th and 20th centuries

At the beginning of the 19th century, the representation of Italy was mostly due to the literary and artistic narrative of foreign travellers. The resulting image influenced the vision Italians had of their own country and carried weight with the awareness of their national identity. Sicily stood outside the traditional itinerary of the Grand Tour for a long time and only became an essential stop after the publication of Goethe and Vivant Denon’s travel journals in the 1780s. This literature led to the codification of a series of stereotypes linked to neoclassical culture and to the first development of Romanticism. With the introduction of photography in mid-19th century, the role of natur…

A look from outside Foreign photographers in Palermo between the 19th and the 20th century

When photography entered the scene in the mid-19th century, the representation of Sicily consisted largely of drawings, paintings, and written accounts that foreign travelers made during the previous century and, even after the diffusion of the new medium, the photographic description of the island was mostly left to them. The continuity of this 'external gaze' motivated the choice of an analysis aiming to explain its influence over the photographic image of Sicilian cities. Using Palermo as a case-study, this article investigates the relationship between the previous visual tradition and the repertories of foreign photographers. Its purpose is to understand how their description of the cit…

VISTI DAGLI ALTRI: IL PATRIMONIO CULTURALE SICILIANO FOTOGRAFATO DAGLI STRANIERI DURANTE IL XIX SECOLO