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Unidentified photographer/creator
Title page of John Henry Parker "A Catalogue of a Series of Photographs illustrative of the Archaeology of Rome prepared under the direction of John Henry Parker, M.A., F.S.A. in the Winters of 1864, 1865, and 1866" (Oxford, 1867)
1867
Google Books
LL/36112
In the winter of 1864 I was recommended by my physician to go to Rome, in order to avoid the cold and damp of an English winter, after a very serious and dangerous attack of rheumatic fever. He also mentioned as a reason for preferring Rome to any other place, that I should there find both amusement and employment, in the investigation of the very interesting Antiquities of the Eternal City, so long the Capital of the civilized world. His expectations have been fully realised; I not only quite recovered my health, but found Rome suit me so well, that I have returned to it for two more winters, and hope to do so again. My investigations prove more and more interesting the farther I am enabled to carry them, and my desire is to allow others to profit by them as well as myself.
Having been a diligent student of Archaeology for forty years, and having had unusual opportunities for travelling over a great part of Europe, I was prepared to study, and to appreciate the value of, what I found at Rome. I soon saw that of the numerous works on the Antiquities of Rome, not one was written from a purely Archaeological point of view. I had been accustomed to judge of the age of a building by its Construction, and by a comparison of the buildings of one country and one period with those of another, and I did not find that those who had written on Rome had adopted this method. To carry out such a work requires time and patience, and it is absolutely necessary to have accurate representations of the respective buildings to compare one with the other. The sort of minute accuracy which such a work requires could only be obtained by means of Photographs. No artist ever thinks of drawing the joints of masonry, or the width of mortar between bricks, yet these are the very points which sometimes are the best guide to the age of a building. The general design may be, and often is, copied at later times, but the details of Construction never are copied; the workmen of each generation build according to the fashion of their age. The same remark applies equally to other branches of art; the Sculpture, the Painting, and the Mosaics of each have a distinct character of their own, and although the general design may be well imitated, an experienced eye soon detects the hand of a modern workman, or of one of a different age from the original design. The paintings in the Catacombs, for instance, have been in a very large proportion renewed in the eighth and ninth centuries, according to the fashion and the ideas of that period. Many have also been renewed in the nineteenth century, and although these are more close imitations, the art is that of the workman who executed it, not that of the original artist. The copies may be more or less faithful, but they are copies still.
To engrave the whole, or any large proportion of the Photographs, would be to produce a second D'Agincourt, which is not called for; but for historical purposes it is desirable that these Photographs should be accessible to competent persons, and I hope that arrangements will be made to render them accessible in all the principal cities in Europe. I had the pleasure of exhibiting them to the Members of the Inter-national Congress Of Archaeologists held at Antwerp in September last, and was gratified to find that they highly appreciated their value and importance for the History of Architecture and of Art. As the Members of that Congress were some of the best Archaeologists assembled from all parts of Europe, I am encouraged by their approbation to continue my labours.
At the same time I am preparing a work upon the subject, grounded upon the existing remains, of which the Photographs are here described. In the meanwhile, I have thought that such a list as I have prepared may be useful as a kind of guide in outline for visitors to Rome, and will be the means of calling attention to details which are commonly overlooked.
Oxford, November, 1867.
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