Robert Rive (I Grandi Fotografi Dell'Ottocento)

English summary: Robert Rive was born in Breslau from a French Huguenot family. In his early years he went to Naples, where he founded an important photographic firm. In the histories of XIXth century's photography in Italy, he is very often cited as one of the more important photographers of landscapes. This is the first monograph dedicated solely to his work. Rive was one of the first to cover with his photographic campaigns all Italy, from the Lombard Lakes and Venice to Sicily. His work is constantly marked by a landscapist's vocation, which imbues even his views of towns and of architectures. The volume offers an ample anthology of his works, which were realized in every conceivable format (large, medium, stereoscopic, cabinet, carte de visite). Of many among his works even an enlarged detail is reproduced in this monograph, the better confirming its character of a first-hand research of recognition and ysis of Rive's peculiar formal language. Especially rich and original are the images (panoramas, places, roads, monuments, moments of urban life) of Naples and of the Neapolitan marine and hilly area (Caserta, Pozzuoli, Baia, Ischia, Pompei, Ercolano, Castellammare, Sorrento, Capri, Amalfi, Atrani, Ravello, Vietri, Raito, Salerno, Cava de' Tirreni, Paestum), as well as of the Sicilian towns and landscapes, in many cases just discovered or still to be discovered by the travelers of the Grand Tour. But Rive is also the author of unusual images of the Lakes, of Genua, Turin, Milan, Pavia, Como; of Peschiera, Rovereto, Venice, Verona, Bologna, Pisa, Florence; of Orvieto, Rome, Frascati, Tivoli, Gaeta, San Germano, Benevento. Besides, the author has reconstructed the catalogue of Rive's production, a reference piece of which it is not known whether it was ever printed, and of which anyway it seems all trace is now lost. Italian text.