Fratelli Alinari
The Fratelli Alinari S. p. A. (German Gebrüder Alinari Aktiengesellschaft ) in Florence is the oldest still existing photographic company in the world according to its own statements. It was founded by the 3 Alinari brothers, who always appeared as the joint authors of their photographs and were also known as "Gli Alinari" (the Alinaris).
history
With the financial support of his master, the copperplate engraver Giuseppe Bardi, Leopoldo Alinari (1832–1865) opened a small photo laboratory in Via Cornina (now Via del Trebbio) in Florence in 1852. In 1854 his two brothers Romualdo Alinari (1830–1890) and Giuseppe Alinari (1836–1890) became partners. The photographic studio specializing in portraits and photographs of works of art and ancient monuments is now called Fratelli Alinari . In the same year, the Alinari company was represented with eight photos in an exhibition at Il Regio Istituto Tecnico di Firenze (Royal Technical Institute of Florence).
The following year, the Alinaris became internationally known with their first official presentation at the Paris World's Fair . In July 1855 the sales catalog already comprised 84 titles with photos of Florence, Pisa, Siena and other places. In November 1865 Leopoldo Alinari died unexpectedly, so that his brother Giuseppe alone determined the artistic direction of the company. The first collotype was produced in 1888 .
After the death of Giuseppe and Romualdo Alinari in 1890, Vittorio Alinari (1859–1932), Leopoldo's son, took over management of the company. In 1920 Vittorio Alinari sold the company, including the photo archive with 62,000 plates and the Fratelli Alinari brand, to a group of aristocrats, intellectuals and entrepreneurs. The group, which included not only well-known personalities, but also the Bank of Florence, raised the fabulous sum of 2.5 million gold lire. Since none of the shareholders had a majority stake, the first public culture company in Europe was founded, the Fratelli Alinari IDEA S. p. A. (IDEA = Istituto di Edizioni Artistiche - Institute for Art Publications).
present
Today the company specializes in contemporary professional photo technology; it operates museums, archives and publishing houses. The Alinari archive has now more than 5.5 million photographs from around the world, both in historical (eg. As daguerreotypes , albumen prints , vintage prints , photographic plates ) and modern techniques (eg. As digital photographs ). In 2001, Alinari, in partnership with the University of Florence, began creating a digital archive containing more than 330,000 images. Alinari is a publisher of photographic books and offers special services for photographic exhibitions. Own and third-party photographic holdings can be preserved or restored in the company's own restoration laboratory. Historical photos from public archives and libraries, but also from companies and private individuals, are processed.
Alinari also produces art prints. For this purpose, the company operates one of the world's last collotype printing workshops. A large number of reproductions of unrivaled quality are produced and sold there in limited editions by the world's most important artists.
The Alinari National Museum of Photography , Italian Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia (MNAF), has a permanent exhibition on the history of photography . It is located in the former San Paolo Hospital on Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence.
In September 2007, Fratelli Alinari S. p. A. together with the business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, the Alinari 24 ORE joint venture to preserve the cultural heritage of Florence and one of the most important photographic archives in the world.
Gallery of historical photos
Siena, Piazza del Campo, 1870
Statue of Mark Aurel, Piazza Capitolino, Rome, 19 × 25 cm, albumen print, 1875
Castello e ponte S. Angelo, Rome, 19.3 × 26 cm, albumen print, 1878
Basilica di Constantino, Rome, 19.2 × 25 cm, albumen print, 1878
S. Maria delle Grazie, Milan, 19.7 × 25.2 cm, albumen print, 1880–1890
Palazzo Pubblico, Perugia, 42.9 × 57.8 cm, albumen print, around 1895
literature
- Thomas Steinfeld : The world as an idea . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 30, 2017, p. 57
- Rizzoni, Gianni (Ed.): Gli Alinari. Milano: Fabbri, "I Grandi Fotografi" series, 1983.
Web links
- Fratelli Alinari - Image Archive and Museum
- Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia (MNAF)
- Alinari Archives at Google Cultural Institute
Individual evidence
- ^ Fratelli Alinari: Chi Siamo
- ↑ Alinari Photo Library educational
- ↑ Alinari Archives ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Fratelli Alinari: Collotipie ( Memento of the original dated August 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
