Aardewerk potten in Pompeï - Giorgio Sommer

A nineteenth-century albumen print by Giorgio Sommer documenting large earthenware storage jars within the excavated ruins of Pompeii.

This albumen print by Giorgio Sommer captures a collection of large earthenware vessels, known as dolia, situated within the excavated ruins of Pompeii. Sommer, a German photographer who established a studio in Naples, produced an extensive catalogue of images documenting the archaeological sites of southern Italy during the late nineteenth century. His work provided contemporary European audiences with a visual record of the Roman city, which had been buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The composition focuses on the rounded forms of the storage jars, which are arranged across the dusty ground of an excavated courtyard. The stark contrast between the sunlit surfaces of the pottery and the deep shadows cast upon the ground creates a sense of volume and physical presence. In the background, the weathered stone walls of the ancient structures remain, providing context for the domestic or commercial function these vessels once served. A small figure stands near the rear of the site, offering a sense of scale to the massive ceramic containers.

Sommer utilised the albumen printing process, a standard method for nineteenth-century photography that involved coating paper with egg white and silver salts. This technique allowed for the fine detail visible in the texture of the clay and the crumbling masonry of the ruins. The image is presented with a decorative border, typical of the presentation style for photographic albums of the period. This print functions as both a historical document of archaeological progress and an example of the aesthetic approach taken by early travel photographers who sought to capture the atmosphere of antiquity for a growing market of collectors and scholars.