Vatican Museums

Since its birth, photography established itself as a new and powerful medium for reproducing reality and the Anderson Company, founded by Giacomo and conducted by Domenico and sons in Rome, represented one of the most enduring and prolific family business in the field. Domenico Anderson in particular has been very active in the Vatican Museums, and his work has been meticulously studied in this volume, thanks to an accurate archival research, which allowed to reconstruct the photographer’s relationships with the Directorate of the Vatican Museums at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The book is divided into three sections: the first one is focused on the Anderson family, from the origins to the company foundation; the second one delves into the work of Domenico Anderson inside the Vatican Museums; the third one analyses the photographic techniques, chosen by the artist in his most important commissions: the Sistine Chapel and the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace. The chapters are accompanied by photos from the period. A rich documentary appendix and the bibliography close the book.