Addenda a Robert Rive

Born in Breslau (now Wroclaw) to a French family, Robert Rive, with his commercial photographic studio in Naples in which his brother Giulio also worked, was one of the most important figures in the history of photography in Italy in the age of the collodion process, between the end of 1850 and the mid-1890s. Presented here are a number of significant works not previously reproduced or studied and of particular interest in documenting and gaining a deeper understanding of the scale, thematic range and quality of his production. Thus the formal choices of topographic views (figs. 1-14, 19-26), scenes of urban life (figs. 15, 16), architectural subjects (figs. 17, 18) and scenes of popular life (figs. 28, 29) are analyzed in detail. The primary characteristic of Rive's photographic language is his feeling for the landscape, which also informs his views of cities and buildings. He strays happily into the picturesque, at times showing signs of a peculiar and almost subversive lyrical genius verging on a surrealistic vision (fig. 27).