Untitled (San Stefano en Rotundo)
c. 1857
Medium
Albumen print, from "Photographs of Views of Rome" (c. 1857)
Dimensions
Image/paper: 30.9 × 39.8 cm (12 3/16 × 15 11/16 in.); Mount: 40.7 × 45.5 cm (16 1/16 × 17 15/16 in.)
Classification
photograph
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
217166
Art Historical Context
Robert MacPherson's *Untitled (San Stefano enundo)*, created around 1857, captures the striking circular form of the ancient Church of Santo Stefano Rotondo on Rome's Celio Hill. This albumen print hails from MacPherson's renowned series *Photographs of Views of*, a comprehensive visual archive of the Eternal City's architectural wonders. A Scottish photographer who settled in Rome in the 1840s, MacPherson in precise, large-format images that preserved the grandeur of classical ruins and medieval structures for a growing international audience of scholars, travelers, and collectors. The album...
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...