Antique Photograph Of St. Peter's Basilica in Frame

[mackety]

Hi Everyone,



I bought this at a Goodwill the other week and still have no idea as to it's age/location/format.

It's definitely a photograph, but I'm unable to tell what it was taken with or wether or not it's a recent photo that's been made to look aged.

I have a very large file showing fine details if anyone thinks they might be able to help. Specifically, I would love to know where it was taken and when.

Some features:
- It's in an aged wooden frame with what appears to be some kind of particle board that the print might be attached to. It's not like any kind of particle board I've ever seen.

- The gold inner trim might be plaster, it's not metal.

- The nails in the back are quite old, everything seems to be original. The glass as well.

- The frame is about 52 inches by 30 inches.

[hosman321]

Welcome to the forum!

Great picture, I really like the frame. Is it possible to get pictures of the back (and whatever other pictures you have)? This forum can support fairly large pictures, a little bigger than the one you posted. At this point it's really hard to tell. It could be something from the 70s or something special that is much older. Does it have a signature? Looking forward to more pictures!

[mackety]

Hey Hosman,

Thanks for the quick reply! Here's a photo of the backside:



The photo is as large as I can seem to get it by inserting into post, but here's a 1024x768 size that is free of distractions:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shiggety/5991183359/in/photostream/lightbox/

I have a huge file (25MB) that shows the exceptional detail, feel free to download it here:

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=704195&dv=1

The frame really is spectacular, it's a beautifully colored wood and looks like it's been taken care of (the front at least).
It doesn't have a visible signature, I'm a little bit afraid to poke around and look for one as the fragile paper is ripped in a few places already.
But I might just be tempted one night to loosen a nail and see if I can find something.

[mackety]

I've just realized what this is!



It can only be St. Peter's Basilica in Rome!
I was searching for something much, much less conspicuous! I'm very very excited by this. I'll be researching it's age all night, but if anyone has any ideas or starting points I'd be thrilled to hear them!

[hosman321]

I'm just going to throw it out there that I think this dates to the 20's-ish. I am far from an expert though and I am just as curious as you are to see what the other members say. Great job finding out what it is !

[hosman321]

You know, I wonder if there is a museum or expert on that building that could date it. The buildings/scenery are a bit different in those pics so maybe they would know what buildings came when etc.

[mackety]

That's an idea! I'll look to see if maybe the official church website has any links or contact pages.

Update:
After a bit of research, it seems the clock on the left side of St. Peter's has been operated electrically since 1931. It's impossible to tell in the photograph wether or not that's the case at the time the photo was taken, but I think the clocks visible in the image could be the best clue available.
There's another clock visible on the Saint Angelo's Castle in the foreground and I'm about to see what I can dig up on that one.

Update 2:
While looking for information on Saint Angelo's Castle, I found this 1920 illustration which appears to be very similar to my photograph, at least in terms of building views. And actually, there seems to be some sort of scaffolding in the upper right corner of Saint Angelo's Castle that's present in both the photo and drawing. So the guess of 1920 may be spot on!