The leather case

OBJECT OF THE MONTH JUNE 2024

Sometimes photographic treasures find their way to us in unexpected ways. Without comprehensive background information, we are often left with no choice but to glean clues about their origin from the images themselves. For June, we have chosen a particularly fascinating object: a small leather case, possibly made of elephant hide, containing a multitude of small-format negatives, which came into our possession as a gift.

The selected negative, shown here as an example, which we have partially converted into a positive using digital image processing, is number 80 and is listed in the table of contents as a photograph from Venice. It shows several historical buildings, photographed from the opposite bank of a canal. At the bottom of the image, two Venetian gondolas can be seen, seemingly waiting to carry the next tourists. The image measures 6 x 8 cm and likely comes from a roll film, common at the time, possibly taken with a folding camera, which was widespread then.

The quality of these and the other photographs suggests that they were not taken by a mere amateur photographer. However, the photographer's identity remains unknown. The handwritten inscriptions on the front pages of the case also provide no clues; instead, they reveal that the photographs were taken in the spring of 1925 during a trip to Italy. Several cities were visited, including Venice and Florence.

As the object of the month, this small collection of negatives is not only aesthetically pleasing but also historically significant. Nearly a century old, the photographs offer a valuable basis for architectural studies in Venice and other Italian cities. They invite us to immerse ourselves in a bygone era and rediscover the beauty and history of these places through the lens of an unknown photographer.