Lot 4031: De Bonis, A.: Fontana di Trevi, Rome

Fontana di Trevi, Rome. 1860s. Vintage albumen print. 19,2 x 24,8 cm. Photographer's monogram in lower right in the negative; annotated in pencil and AdB stamp on the verso.
Little is known about the photographer A.(driano?) de Bonis. He operated in Rome during the same period as Carlo Baldassarre Simelli and was probably his photographic assistant. De Bonis normally signed his photographs with a stamp on the back of the image (AdB) or blindstamped his photos with the cursive initials DB.
Carlo Baldassare Simelli (1811-77) worked for John Henry Parker, who set up an office in Rome and published many volumes of photographically illustrated work. Simelli had close contacts with the group of largely French photographers who met at the Café Greco. From the body of identifiable work by Simelli, one can see that de Bonis was heavily influenced by him and probably worked on sub-commission by Simelli for Parker.
Subsequently, Eugenio Chauffourier (1845-1919) acquired Simelli and de Bonis negatives, which he printed and re-labeled, in addition to producing his own images of similar style. Many of the photographs known today and attributed to Chauffourier are in fact the work of the two earlier photographers. De Bonis' photographs always contain distinctive perspectives and are among the most beautiful and individual of those taken in Rome during the second half of the nineteenth century. - A few light stains in upper left corner, a few light creases, otherwise a strong violet-brown print in very good condition.