Friday, December 11, 2015

Acropolis 1870s, early English photographs

William J. Stillman
Title Page
with The Ancient Gate of the Acropolis

1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

The Acropolis of Athens
illustrated picturesquely and architecturally in photography
by William J. Stillman
printed by Autotype Company
London : F.S. Ellis, 1870

About a year ago we saw a group of photographs here that dated from the 1840s. These were made by the French artist-adventurer Girault de Prangey and are generally credited as the earliest photographs to depict the Acropolis. Yesterday's images by Dimitrios Constantin from the 1860s were the first made by a Greek (perhaps). Today's are the work of an enterprising Anglo working for an enterprising publisher in 1870. William J. Stillman's compositions are surely the starkest of the three. And he had the best weather.

William J. Stillman
Eastern Façade of the Temple of Victory
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Western Façade of the Parthenon
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Interior of the Parthenon facing east
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Above the Parthenon facing east
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Eastern portico of the Parthenon
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Eastern Façade of the Parthenon
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
View of the Acropolis facing west
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Gate of the Pandrosium
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Western flank of the Erectheum
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Caryatid Porch of the Erectheum
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

William J. Stillman
Fragment of Parthenon Frieze
1870
carbon print, autotype
Philadelphia Museum of Art

These published photographic prints from 1870 are now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.