Sicilian Cart

Albumen on paper, watercolored and mounted on a contemporary support, circa 1880. Attributed to the Giorgio Sommer photography studio.

It shows a crowded traditional Sicilian cart pulled by a mule, taken in Palermo around 1880 by the renowned German photographer Giorgio Sommer. This specific shot is an albumen print, then watercolored by hand to bring out the typical bright colors of the island's folklore.

It portrays a group of farmers and local passengers seated on the cart ("Sicilian types"), an indispensable means of daily transportation of goods and people at the time. The wheels and sides of the cart feature classic Sicilian geometric and narrative decorations, complemented by the bright red and feathered trappings on the animal's head and back.

Giorgio Sommer (1834–1914) was one of the most important and prolific photographers of the 19th century in Italy, known for his detailed documentation of the customs and landscapes of Southern Italy. The historical catalogue code attributed to this specific view is no. 1301 - Carretto.

Giorgio Sommer was born in Frankfurt am Main on September 2, 1834. He became interested in photography at a very young age and soon devoted himself to it professionally. In 1857 he arrived in Rome, where he worked intensively, collaborating with his compatriot and friend, also a photographer, Edmond Behles. Through the Deutscher Künstlerverein, he participated in the climate of passionate interest in the study of antiquity and archaeology and met photographers of German origin resident or active in Rome, as well as many painters. He worked in Rome for a short period in September and October 1857 and again in the summer of 1859. He adopted large (28x38), medium (20x25), stereoscopic, and carte-de-visite formats. He photographed many works of art from the Vatican Museums. By the end of 1857 he had moved from Rome to Naples, then still governed by Ferdinand II of Bourbon; He opened a studio on Chiaia Street and then, around 1860, on Monte di Dio Street. He began selling photographs he had taken in Rome in collaboration with Behles under his own name. The Neapolitan photography studio offered portraits, art reproductions, and landscapes. Sommer also traded in artistic bronzes, publishing catalogs for them separately or as a section of photography catalogs. In 1860, on behalf of the government, he went on a campaign in Pompeii. On September 25 of that year, he photographed Garibaldi visiting the excavations. On June 16, 1861, he married Antonia Schmid, daughter of a famous piano maker of Moravian origin. The couple had two children: Edmondo and Carolina. In 1861, he was in Gaeta, photographing the battlefields and the destruction caused to the Bourbon stronghold by the siege of Savoy troops. On behalf of the Italian government, he documented the repression of banditry in the southern provinces. In 1865, Sommer and Behles were awarded a gold medal by Vittorio Emanuele II. That same year, they participated in the International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures in Dublin, where they exhibited ten photographs. Sommer was awarded a gold medal by Charles of Württemberg. He continued to reproduce the two medals awarded by Vittorio Emanuele II and Charles of Württemberg on the covers of his catalogues until 1903. His association with Behles ended around 1866. In 1867, he participated in the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he was awarded a bronze medal. In 1873, he participated in the Universal Exhibition in Vienna. The studio employed twelve people in the various departments of negative development, printing, retouching, and coloring. In the 1880s, he worked in Switzerland, where he was commissioned to carry out a photographic campaign for railway construction projects. In 1885, he won a prize at the Nürnberg exhibition for his reproductions of ancient bronzes. In 1890 he opened a branch in Palermo. He died in Naples on August 7, 1914.