The Templum Minerva Medica and the Surrounding Area
Medium
albumen print
Dimensions
overall: 25.5 x 40.6 cm (10 1/16 x 16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Andrew Szegedy-Maszak and Elizabeth Bobrick in honor of Aladar and Hanna Szegedy-Maszak
Accession Number
1998.127.1
Art Historical Context
Step into ancient Rome through Robert Macpherson's captivating *The Templum Minerva Medica and Surrounding Area* (1861), an album print that masterfully documents the evocative ruins of this enigmatic structure amid its overgrown environs. Scottish photographer Macpherson, active in Rome from the 1850s, specialized in architectural views, using his keen eye to preserve the Eternal City's fading grandeur for 19th-century audiences fascinated by classical antiquity. The "Templum" – actually a lavish 4th-century AD nymphaeum, or garden pavilion, misidentified as a temple to Minerva – stands as a...
About the Artist
Robert Macpherson · 1811–1872
Robert Macpherson (1811–1872) was a Scottish artist who began his career in medicine before pivoting to painting and ultimately pioneering photography in Rome. Born in the Tayside region near Edinburgh, he enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1831 to study medicine but left without graduating after four years. He then trained at the Royal Scottish Academy, where he exhibited portraits from 1...