The Fontana dei Fiumi, Piazza Navona; The Dioscuri, Piazza del Quirinale, Rome, circa, 1851-55

The photographs in this and the following sixteen lots comprise a collection of early Italian views, the majority salt prints from glass negatives dating from the early 1850s. Of the Rome subjects, two (one large, one smaller) are numbered similarly in black in the negatives. This numbering, together with the distinct appearance of the prints which tend towards a reddish brown, suggest the series is the work of one photographer. Although one (lot 46) has previously been attributed to Anderson, the reference number does not correspond with the given title on his published list of 1859, nor do the sizes correspond. The large and small formats do correspond approximately with those used by the English photographer Robert Eaton (1891-1871), who was certainly working during this period and used similar large black numbers in his negatives. The colour of the prints, a deep reddish brown, is unusual, and similar to several of those sold at Christie's South Kensington, March 24, 1983, lot 67, one of which, illustrated in the catalogue, was by Eaton (compare Becchetti, La fotografia a Roma, p. 303 (illus.)).