About This Image

Photographer's blind stamp on recto of photograph at lower right corner. Beautiful print that greatly resembles Eugene Atget's work with similar subject matter.Paolo Lombardi was a professional photographer born in Siena in 1827. He was probably active in this city since 1849 (as he himself declared on the title page of his commercial catalogs), although no works from this early period are known to date. Examples of his activity as a daguerreotypist and calotypist no longer exist, but there are references in guides of the period.After 1860 he set up a photographic laboratory at Costarella and began production as a portrait and landscape painter in Siena and its surroundings, with particular attention to the Sienese works of art, documented in a collection of over 3000 negatives.He participated in the Sienese provincial exhibition of 1862, the Paris exhibition of 1867, the Vienna exhibition of 1873, and in 1887 the first photographic exhibition in Florence organized by Giacomo Brogi.One of the most famous images of Giuseppe Garibaldi was made by Lombardi in August 1867. L'annedotica reported that in order to take the photo, Garibaldi was taken to the "laying terrace" of his studio at Costarella, a stone's throw from Piazza del Field. The studio was located on the top floor of an ancient building, with steep stairs to get there. Garibaldi, suffering from the painful arthritis that afflicted him for some time, was unable to climb the 110 steps and so it was that willing followers invented a sort of sedan chair to carry him up the stairs, applying poles to an armchair.The photos by Lombardi of Siena are special and famous because they show the inspiration of the professional who collected Sienese daily life in images.His son continued the business until 1935. A part of the Lombardi Archive, made up of 3,745 negatives in total, is now owned by the Istituto Luce in Rome, which bought it in 1935.

Most U.S. domestic Fed Ex ground shipping (Media Mail for books) is free of charge except for larger and heavier items, or unless the buyer wants express shipping (email us your requests for the latter). International shipping and insurance costs will be added to the price and must be paid for by the buyer. Pennsylvania buyers must pay appropriate local sales tax. International clients are responsible for their local customs duties and taxes, which will be charged by Fed Ex, which will contact the client prior to delivery.