Thursday, December 10, 2015

Acropolis 1860s, early Greek photographs

Dimitrios Constantin
Albumen Silver Print - Parthenon
ca. 1860
Rijksmuseum

Dimitrios Constantin
Caryatid Porch, Erechtheion
ca. 1860
Rijksmuseum

When Dimitrios Constantin opened a commercial photo studio in Athens in 1858 he became the second professional photographer established in Greece. Constantin's large-format albumen silver prints of the Acropolis were made from glass-plate negatives and sold as tourist souvenirs to the relatively small numbers of mid-19th century culture-pilgrims. In the picture of the Erechtheion above, crude stone restorations are starkly visible, a late and feeble attempt by the authorities to give travelers their money's worth (after far too many centuries of indifference, damage, and exploitation). The frieze fragments below were among those left behind by Lord Elgin when he providentially transported about half the surviving Parthenon sculptures to London some fifty years before these pictures were taken.

Dimitrios Constantin
Parthenon Frieze Fragment
1865
Getty

Dimitrio Constantin
Parthenon Frieze Fragment
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Wingless Victory from Athena Nike Parapet
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Parthenon Frieze Fragment
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Parthenon Frieze Fragment
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Erechtheion, Eastern Facade
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Parthenon, Western Facade
1865
Getty

Dimitrios Constantin
Propylea (from the west)
1865
Getty