19th Century Rome, The Transfiguration

19th Century Rome, vintage albumen photograph of 'The Transfiguration' by Raphael. Photograph credited to Giorgio Sommer.

'The Transfiguration' is the last painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael. Commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de Medici, the later Pope Clement VII (1523–1534) and conceived as an altarpiece for the Narbonne Cathedral in France, Raphael worked on it until his death in 1520. The painting exemplifies Raphael's development as an artist and the culmination of his career. Unusually for a depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art, the subject is combined with an additional episode from the Gospels in the lower part of the painting.

'The Transfiguration stands' as an allegory of the transformative nature of representation. It is now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Vatican City.

Giorgio Sommer (1834–1914), born in Frankfurt am Main (in modern day Germany), and became one of Europe’s most important and prolific photographers of the 19th century. Active from 1857 to 1888, he produced thousands of images of archeological ruins, landscapes, art objects and portraits.

Measures approximately 8 x 10 inches; affixed to a larger cardstock page for a finished size of 10.75 x 13.75 inches. Seemingly removed from a binding; edges are gold gilded with binding trace on the left hand or top edge (depending on how page is viewed). Verso is blank and clean. In very good condition with light signs of wear and handling.