Accession Number
1993/2.60

Title
Firenze, Veduta dei Ponti

Artist(s)
Giacomo Brogi

Artist Nationality
Italian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1875-1890

Medium & Support
albumen print on paper

Dimensions
19 1/8 in x 25 1/8 in (48.58 cm x 63.82 cm);22 1/16 in x 28 3/16 in (56.04 cm x 71.6 cm);19 3/16 in x 25 3/16 in (48.74 cm x 63.98 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Howard and Margaret Bond

Subject matter
Photographed from an elevated position, this image depicts a scenic view of the Arno River which runs through the Italian city of Florence. The river is spanned by three bridges that are supported with wide, graceful arches. The two in the distance are uncovered, while the one in the foreground, the Ponte Vecchio, is covered with an assortment of shingled medieval structures which form a jumbled, yet orderly, geometry. Extending from the lower right of the frame, running along the banks of the river and then above the length of the Ponte Vecchio, the Vasari Corridor forms a second-tiered bridge. The famed architectural element once provided a passage for the powerful family of the Medici to traverse the city from their palace on the Western side of the city to the Palazzo Vecchio on the East. The scene is devoid of pedestrians, and the reflection of the bridge is clearly legible in the placid water below. The otherwise medieval appearance of the city is disrupted by the length of four telegraph wires, which are stretched diagonally across the river.  The warmth of the albumen print emphasizes the luminous sunlight washing over the scene below.

Physical Description
This image depicts a scenic view of three bridges spanning a river that runs through the medieval city of Florence.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Arno
Cityscapes
Florence
Italian (culture or style)
Italian Medieval styles
Italian Renaissance-Baroque styles
Ponte Vecchio
Tuscan (architectural style)
Waterscapes
arches
bridges
bridges (built works)
cityscapes (representations)
inhabited bridges
river settlements
rivers
tower