L'arco degli argentari, adossato alla chiesa di San Giorgio al Velabro
1848–52
Medium
Albumen print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 11 5/16 × 8 11/16 in. (28.8 × 22 cm) Sheet: 18 1/2 × 12 1/8 in. (47 × 30.8 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.799 (14)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nestled in Rome's ancient Boarium, *L'arco degli argent, adossato alla di San Giorgio al Velro* captures the weathered elegance of the Arch of the Bankers, a second-century Roman monument built by money-changers to honor Emperor Septimius Severus and his family. Adjoined to the medieval Church of San Giorgio in Velro, this structure blends pagan antiquity with Christian heritage. French photographer Eugène Constant documented it between 1848 and 1852, during photography's pioneering years, offering visitors a vivid mid-19th-century glimpse of Rome's layered history before modern restorations. ...
About the Artist
Eugène Constant · 1848–1855
Eugène Constant (before 1820 – after 1860) was a French painter who became one of the pioneering photographers of the 19th century, capturing the grandeur of Italy's ancient monuments with unprecedented clarity.) Trained as a painter in Paris during the early 1840s, where he maintained a studio at 31 rue du Marché-Saint-Honoré, Constant exhibited interior views of Venice's Basilica of San Marco an...