Anon. The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence

An original c.1870 photograph The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence.

A striking late 19th-century albumen print.

Laid down on backing card, with inscription below. There is an additional albumen print pasted on the verso of the card, showing the Madonna della seggiola painting by Raphael.

This is one of a collection of topographical photographs that we have for sale, which appear to have been collected on a European tour of Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. The photographs capture iconic cultural sites at Rome and Florence, as they were before mass tourism of the 20th century, spectacular Alpine vistas, and also scenes frozen in time, such as military and bomb damage after the Siege of Strasbourg during the Franco-Prussian War.

There are also photos in England, recording architecture at Oxford, Chester and Warwick, and capturing Lake District beauty spots popularised by the Romantic poets.

The photos largely appear to be by professional photographers or studios of the day, with notable similarities to the photographers James Anderson (1813–1877) and Robert Macpherson (1814–1872) who settled in Rome, French photographer Auguste Colas-Baudelaire (1830–1880), and Francis Frith (1822–1898), who extensively photographed England, including the Lake District, in the late 19th century.