Lot 4026: Constant, Eugène: The Colosseum, Rome

The Colosseum, Rome. Circa 1852. Salt print from glass-plate negative. 14,8 x 21,8 cm. Photographer's blind stamp in lower left corner, mounted to cream card (some light foxing), photographer's blind stamp in lower right corner on the mount.
Eugène Constant was active as a photographer from 1848. In 1852 Constant exhibited with Giacomo Caneva at the exhibition of the Art Society of London. Constant belonged to the circle of artists and landscape photographers known as the Roman Photographic School, which included G. Caneva, Flachéron, A. Norman, A. Davanne and Th. Sutton who met regularly at the Cafe Greco in Rome in the 1850s. At this time Constant began experimenting with relatively new albumen glass negatives, which were gradually replaced by the wet-collodion process. Prints by Constant are rare and this early salt print has exceptionally dark tones. - A few light foxing spots in sky area, otherwise a strong print with a violet-brown tone and in very good condition.
Lit.: Rome in Early Photographs 1846 - 1878. Copenhagen 1977, ill. unpaginated.