Rome, Quirinale

Unknown

ca. 1855 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

The colossal statues of the "horse tamers" Castor and Pollux have graced Rome's Quirinal hill since antiquity. The Egyptian obelisk that now sits between them was moved to the site in the 1780s, shortly after having been discovered at the mausoleum of Augustus. The author of this anonymous calotype saw the possibility of expressing the energy of the famed sculptures in dramatic and animated silhouette.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1855

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

David Hunter McAlpin Fund, 1946