First Materials on the Presence of Photography at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice
abstract
Based on the examination of the documents present in the Historical Archive of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, in Venice, this essay proposes the first results of a research on the use of photography in that Institution in the period between the 1880s and the 1930s. The relationship with some important photographers is reconstructed, above all with the Roman photographer Domenico Anderson, to whom the exclusive right for the reproduction of the works of art of the Scuola was granted in 1896. The analysis of the sales of photographs carried out there makes it possible to verify the subjects that visitors appreciated most, especially with regard to Tintoretto’s paintings.
Keywords: Fratelli Alinari • Scuola Grande di San Rocco • Jacopo Robusti (Tintoretto) • John Ruskin • Reproduction of works of art • Giovanni Battista Brusa • Photography in Venice • Carlo Naya • Domenico Anderson