[Ruins, Dizfoul]

Art Historical Context

**Ruins, Dizfoul** *Luigi Pesce, 1840s–60s* Albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of ArtStep back to the mid-19th century with Luigi Pesce's evocative *Ruins, Dizfoul*, an albumen silver print capturing the haunting beauty of ancient ruins in is likely a remote Syrian site. Pesce, an Italian photographer traveler, ventured through the Middle East during the 1850s and 1860s, architectural marvels amid the Ottoman Empire's vast landscapes. This photograph exemplifies early photographic expeditions that brought distant wonders to European audiences, blending adventure with artistry. The...

About the Artist

Luigi Pesce · 1818–1891

**Luigi Pesce (1828–1864)** was an Italian colonel and pioneering amateur photographer from Naples in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose work captured some of the earliest images of Iran's ancient monuments and 19th-century life. Arriving in Persia in 1848 during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, Pesce was tasked with training Iranian infantry units, a mission that positioned him ideally t...