Teheran

Art Historical Context

**Teheran, 1858** Captured by Italian photographer Luigi Pesce, *Teheran* is a salted paper print made from a paper negative, one of the earliest photographic glimpses of Iran's capital city during the Qajar dynasty. Pesce, a naval officer and avid traveler, ventured through the Middle East in the late 1850s, exotic locales with the pioneering tools of photography. This image likely depicts the bustling townscape of Tehran—a gateway to Persian culture—with its mud-brick architecture, minarets, and vibrant street life, offering 19th-century Western viewers a rare window into a distant world. ...

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...