The Colosseum

Jane Martha St. John

1856 · Albumen silver print from paper negative · Photographs

Jane St. John was most likely attracted to photography through her close friendship with the Llewelyn family of Penllergare, who affectionately knew her as "Aunt Jane." When she and her husband made an extended tour of Italy in 1856, she became an indefatigable photographer, documenting every stage of their journey as they made their way north from Naples, via Rome, Florence, Venice, and Como. Sending a group of prints to Emma Llewelyn, whose album we display here, she added, "Pray look at me sitting on the wall under the Colosseum. I sat there only a few minutes only to show the size, for as I was doing the photographs alone, I could not stay long of course."

Artist

Jane Martha St. John

Date

1856

Medium

Albumen silver print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005