Lot 4101: Vaticanum I (1869 - 1870): Portraits of Council participants

Photographer: Fratelli d'Alessandri (Antonio d'Alessandri [1818 - 1893] and Paolo Francesco d' Alessandri [1824 - 1889]). Portraits of Council participants of the United Christian Churches of Oriental Rites. Circa 1869/1870. 15 finely hand-colored carte-de-visite albumen prints, each with photographer's logo, address and name, each annotated with sitter's name in pencil/ink in contemporary hand on mount verso.This fine collection of portraits shows fifteen of the sixty-one council participants from the United Christian Churches who represented their churches during the Vaticanum I in Rome, 1869/70. All of these bishops were from the eastern Mediterranean region as well as Asia Minor and represented various Christian communities of Oriental Rites within the Ottoman Empire, where their rites were widely tolerated. The 20th Ecumenical Council (Vatican I) was convened by Pope Pius IX on June 29, 1869 to condemn the modern errors such as Liberalism, Rationalism, the Risorgimento, etc. However, the most important and controversial subject of this council was the dogma of the primacy and infallibility of the Pope, which was announced in the summer of 1870. The Pope then ordered a recess until November 11. However, on July 19, France, the protector of the Papal State, declared war on Prussia and withdrew its troops from Italy. The Italian military then immediately marched peacefully into the Papal State. The Pope was politically disempowered and Rome was proclaimed the capital of Italy.
The studio of Fratelli d'Alessandri was one of the most popular in Rome in the 1860s. Antonio d'Alessandri was a Catholic priest which allowed them easier access to the Vatican and they were the first to receive permission to photograph Pius IX and his court. The portrait series offered here was probably an official commission but in 1870 the Alessandri brothers lost the favor of the papal court because they voiced their support for Garibaldi's movement and photographed the victorious troops after their storming of the Porta Pia.- Finely hand-colored with bright colors and in very good to excellent condition.
Lit.: Klaus Schatz. "Vatikanum I" in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie 34, (2002), pp. 532 - 541.