19th-century Roman photographs auctioned at Lempertz

Lempertz auctioned around eighty 19th-century photographs of Rome and its countryside on December 7 in Cologne, Germany. The images, dating from 1840 to 1870, depict ancient Roman monuments like the Colosseum and the unspoiled Roman Campagna. They come from the collection of Orsola and Filippo Maggia, built over nearly three decades. The collection was on loan to the Fotomuseo Giuseppe Panini in Modena from 1990 to 2017, with exhibitions curated by Francesca Bonetti in 2008. Sale prices ranged from about 2,000 to 5,000 euros per print, with peaks up to nearly 12,000 euros. The photographs capture late Romantic landscape painting and Piranesi's 18th-century engravings, but using early cameras.