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Macpherson's Vatican sculptures, 1868
94/204
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Title: Macpherson's Vatican sculptures
Date (inclusive): 1868
Collection number: 94/204
Creator:
Macpherson, Robert, 1815 or 16-1872, photographer.
Physical Description:
1 album (134 photographic prints) : albumen ; 33 x 26 cm (album)
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."
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."
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.
Language: Finding aid is written in
English.
Language of the Material:
Materials are in English.
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
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.
Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library
Special Collections for paging information.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the
creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright
owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Albert Boni.
[Identification of item], Macpherson's Vatican sculptures (Collection 94/204). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E.
Young Research Library, UCLA.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
4233582
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.
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.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Art museums --Vatican City --Pictorial works.
Classical antiquities --Pictorial works.
Sculpture --Vatican City --Pictorial works.
Sculpture, Greek --Pictorial works.
Sculpture, Roman --Pictorial works.
Photograph albums.
Photographic prints.
Albumen prints.
Other Index Terms Related to this Collection
Vatican sculptures
Macpherson's Vatican sculpture
Faithfull, Emily, 1836?-1895, printer.
Boni, Albert, 1892-1981, former owner.
Part of the
Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94)
in UCLA Library Special Collections.