Carlo Naya photograph albums of Venice, 1860s-1870s

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Summary

Creator:
Naya, Carlo
Abstract:
Four cloth-bound souvenir albums house 92 oversize mounted albumen prints of Venetian landmarks, taken by notable photographer Carlo Naya during the 1860s and perhaps into the 1870s. Handwritten captions are expressed in Italian with some English terms, and are transcribed exactly as they appear. Nearly all the images measure 10 5/8 x 13 7/8 inches, and almost all bear the studio negative number. Subjects include well-known landmarks of Venice, including churches, palaces, canals, bridges, and piazzas, along with city monuments and statuary such as the Winged Lion of St. Mark. Other images show interior details such as tombs, bas-reliefs, altars, and grand staircases. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet (4 bound volumes; 92 albumen photographs)
Physical description:
92 albumen prints in four bound volumes
Language:
Materials are in Italian and English.
Collection ID:
RL.11356

Background

Scope and content:

These four bound albums house 92 oversize albumen prints showing images of Venetian architecture and artworks taken by notable photographer Carlo Naya during the 1860s and perhaps into the 1870s. The images were secured using the wet-collodion process on large glass plate negatives.

The cloth-bound albums measure 18 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches and each contains just over 20 prints mounted on hinged boards. The albums bear the English title "Venice" on the spines and covers, and are numbered I-IV. Album four reveals the large signature of a former owner - J.E. (John Edwin) Chase, an art collector and amateur naturalist of Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Subjects favored by Naya for these albums are the churches, palaces, canals, bridges, and piazzas of Venice, along with city monuments and statuary such as the Winged Lion of St. Mark and the equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni. The photographer's focus is on the elements of design and light; the few small human figures present in most images are included for purposes of scale. Featured sites include: the Palazzo Ducale; Piazza San Marco and the Basilica di San Marco; the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri); the Gran Canale; and the church of SS. Giovanni and Paolo. Many images show interior details such as tombs (Titian and several Doges of Venice), bas-reliefs, altars, and grand staircases. In short, albums such as these display the subjects most sought-after by a knowledgeable tourist, and may have served as visual encyclopedias for educational institutions.

Nearly all the prints measure approximately 10 5/8 x 13 7/8 inches, each mounted on card stock with a handwritten caption below, the photographer's blind-stamp from his Riva Schiavoni studio, and the studio's negative number, which appears in the image. The captions are expressed in Italian with some English terms, and have been transcribed exactly as they appear, with a few errors retained. Only one sequence of images bears a date - 1865. There is a handful of prints with no negative numbers - these have been assigned an identification number starting with "UN." A few prints are signed by Naya (or Naija, as it is sometimes written).

Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts.

Biographical / historical:

Carlo Naya was a noted Italian photographer born in 1816 in Tronzano Vercellese, a small town near Torino in the Piedmont region. He studied law in Pisa but soon took to photography. First operating in various places as a daguerreotypist, he moved to Venice in 1857 on the death of his brother, and he began working with photographer and printer Carlo Ponti; after a dispute with Ponti, Naya opened his own studio and the two became chief rivals. Naya later opened a larger studio on Piazza San Marco, and achieved international reknown as an architectural and scenic photographer. Using Naya's large stock of negatives of Venetian landmarks, his studio assembled fine souvenir albums for admirers of the city. Naya died on May 29, 1882, in Venice. His wife and her second husband continued to operate the studio until it closed in 1918. (Source: Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, 2008.)

Acquisition information:
The Carlo Naya photograph albums of Venice were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2016.
Processing information:

Processed and encoded by Paula Jeannet, January 2017.

Accession(s) represented in this collection guide: 2016-0303.

Arrangement:

Prints are described in this collection guide according to their sequence in the albums.

Dimensions:
Volumes: 18 1/2 x 15 1/4 inches; Prints: 10 5/8 x 13 7/8 inches
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Carlo Naya Photograph Albums of Venice, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.