| Unidentified Italian studio Scala del Bargello [Firenze album] 1880s (or later) Cyanotype Collection of Michael G. Jacob LL/49824 This fortress was built in 1256 to house the Captain of the People (the medieval ruler of the city) and his retinue and soldiers. Now a museum of medieval and Renaissance sculpture, the Bargello is the oldest public building in Florence. What captures the photographer’s attention is the fierce interplay of light and shadow between the covered arches and the open courtyard, the dynamic diagonal, vertical and horizontal lines, the display of diamond-shaped plaques on the wall, the chevron patterns of the courtyard, and so on. A real tour de force in all the varying shades of light and blue.
| |