Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Macpherson, Robert, 1815 or 16-1872, photographer.
- Abstract:
- In addition to the photo inventory checklist leaf, album includes all 126 numbered photographs listed of Greek and Roman sculpture in what was then referred to as the Vatican Museum, as well as 6 interior views, lettered A-F: Braccio Nuovo, Chiaramonte, Hall of the Animals, Hall of Statues, Hall of the Greek Cross, and the Hall of the Candelabra.
- Extent:
- 1 album (134 photographic prints) : albumen ; 33 x 26 cm (album)
- Language:
- Finding aid is written in English. and Materials are in English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Also included are 2 extraneous photos of a statue of Julius Caesar by Macpherson, from another collection. For description of all the photographs contained herein (with the exception of the two views of Caesar), cf. Vatican sculptures: selected and arranged in the order in which they are found in the galleries / briefly explained by Robert Macpherson, Rome. London: Chapman & Hall, 193 Picadilly, 1863, available online.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Scottish photographer and art dealer in Rome. Born in Edinburgh in 1815, Macpherson studied medicine, and began his professional career as a surgeon. Possibly for health reasons, he gave up the practice of medicine, and traveled to Rome, where he settled in 1840. Having had some success as an artist back home, he opened a studio at 48 Via Gregoriana, and began studying and drawing the great artworks in the Roman museums. His greatest triumph was his discovery of the Michelangelo painting, "Deposition of Christ," now in the National Gallery in London. In 1851, Macpherson took up photography, working in the Taupenot technique--a collodio-albumen process--to produce his photographs of the Vatican Museum sculptures. He photographed Roman antiquities in other locations as well, such as Tivoli, Perugia, Frascati, Orvieto, and Capri; his last catalog of 1871 included 278 descriptions of the statues of the Capitoline Museum, and 357 descriptions of views of Rome. Macpherson died in Rome of malaria in 1872.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Albert Boni.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
- Physical facet:
-
Caption title from first leaf, which is a checklist of available photos, printed by Emily Faithfull, Printer and Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty, Victoria Press, Great Coram Street, W.C. Note on recto of checklist leaf reads: "N.B.--Mr Macpherson finds it necessary to state that all his photographs are stamped with his name on the mounting-board; and also that they are not exposed nor to be had at any of the shops, and are only sold at his studio, No. 12, Vicolo d'Alibert, Via del Babuino; near the Piazza di Spagna. In selecting photographs, it is well to put a mark against the no. on the list, and in ordering those that may be wished, to note down only the no. and not the name of the subject, retaining (after the numbers shall have been copied,) the same list as a check upon the order which has afterwards to be executed in Rome, and to be paid for on their arrival in London or Edinburgh."
Production date from price list for this collection, not included in present volume, but dated 1st March 1868; cf. http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/3/3_pss_exhibitors_macpherson_early_photographic_albums.htm;
Photographic prints are mounted on rectos of leaves of heavy white paper; pencilled numbers below correspond to the titles in the photo inventory checklist at the front of the album; photos lack Macpherson's trademark oval embossed stamp; cf. also printer's note on inventory leaf.
Spec. Coll. copy: Bound in vellum boards; large gilt ornaments in five of six spine panels; gold-stamped black leather spine label with title "Macpherson's Vatican sculptures"; marbled endpapers; edges stained red. In modern beige cloth clamshell box; spine title "Macpherson's Vatican sculpture."
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988