Featured Albumen Prints - Brogi

Picked these two 8" x 10" Albumen prints by Giacomo Brogi (6 April 1822 – 29 November 1881) up at a local garage sale for a few bucks a piece.

They're 8" x 10" each. The photo in landscape format is of Piazza della Signoria / Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. Assuming circa mid-to late- 1800s

Unfortunately, they weren't professionally matted. There is some acid damage to the mats and substrates.

Anyhow, thought I'd share them for your perusal.

 

Beautiful -- are you going to change the mats? Or do something else with them?

 

They're pretty much stuck together and somewhat fragile. I'm considering doing a double mat, as much as I don't like that look. Or if I can find/make a frame that's got just a little smaller opening, I'd just hide the bad matting job that way.

I am certainly open to other ideas.

 

Those are simply gorgeous.

 

Thank you, Aaron.

 

I don't know about the seond one (yet), but the first was taken from inside the Loggia dei Lanzi (more or less the wool-dealers porch).

 

Very nice I would love to have found those

 

Thanks for the that info! Looking that up gives me a better perspective on the surroundings.

 

Beautiful, sabre. The depth is amazing.

I think the second one is the convent of San Marco, famous for the stunning Fra Angelico frescos.

 

I don't think S. Marco, but could easily be wrong. The cloister columns of S. Marco, as found online, rest on a short wall, and the capitals are different. Very distinctive capitals in the the Brogi photo. Other differences as well.

The walls, with those marble plaques, also ought to be a clue. Some walls are decorated with architectural fragments from the period of empire or earlier. I don't think that's the case here. These are too rectangular, might be memorials.

The fact that both photos were found together suggests both are of Florence, but that's not necessarily true. Might not even be Tuscany.

The Fra Angelico frescos are spectacular. They exude serenity.

 

They were the main reason I went to Florence, and I wasn't disappointed. I also visited his grave in the Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, to pay my respects to one of Italy's greatest artists.

 

Thanks to both of you. I did some searching last night on the second one and found some similar looking courtyards in Florence, but did not find a match. I may have gone down the San Marco route, but it's all running together. I'll take a look.

I was thinking memorials as well and tried doing some targeted searching that way. Still a mystery.

Thanks again!

edit:
Most Brogi Albumens I've seen have the info for the locale under the photograph. I don't know if I can gingerly pry the mat back and have a look. It all seems very tightly secured.

 

Found the second one! It's the arcade in the courtyard of the Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents - orphanage), Florence.

https://www.123rf.com/photo_7866626...the-innocents-ospedale-delli-innocenti-f.html

 

That's it!

This is outstanding, moreother! I spent a lot of time looking and came up with nothing. I REALLY appreciate your research on this.

Thank you

 

Nice work!

 

It's the Ospedale degli Innocenti, not "delli" (I knew that didn't seem right).

 

The pronunciation would be the same. I think the photographer was feeling peckish and was planning to go to a neighbourhood deli after posting.