“The Cathedral, Paterno”
Date
1857
Creator
Alphonse Bernoud (1820 - 1889, French) , Photographer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 72mm
width (print): 138mm
height (mount): 84mm
width (mount): 172mm
width (print): 138mm
height (mount): 84mm
width (mount): 172mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Stereoscopic view of earthquake damage to the cathedral at Paterno, Italy. The study is taken from a low vantage from the piazza and shows damage to the corner of the building with a large fissure in the adjoining wall; the roof is entirely collapsed in. A single figure is shown inspecting the ruins.
Numbered ’50’ in pencil and inscribed verso ‘Paterno’ in ink and ‘page 78. P. a Transcript.’ A typed label reads ‘Paterno, THE CATHEDRAL. The population of Paterno was about 5000. This view of the cathedral is taken from the Piazza; all the houses in the town have suffered in the same degree. The violence of the earthquake extended within a radius of about twenty miles from this spot. To make the disaster still more fearful, those inhabitants who were fortunate enough to escape, could not (in consequence of the apathy of the officials) obtain food and many were literally starved. The authorities say that only three hundred and forty were killed i
This illustration was reproduced as a lithograph, and in a simplified form, in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by Robert Mallet, 2 vols., (London, Chapman and Hall, 1862), pp.72-73. Numbered "Photog. No. 50".
From a collection of photographs taken by Alphonse Bernoud and Grellier of the Neapolitan earthquake of 1857 and collected by Robert Mallet, who donated them to the Royal Society in 1858.
Robert Mallet (1810–1881), an Irish civil engineer and geologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1854.
Numbered ’50’ in pencil and inscribed verso ‘Paterno’ in ink and ‘page 78. P. a Transcript.’ A typed label reads ‘Paterno, THE CATHEDRAL. The population of Paterno was about 5000. This view of the cathedral is taken from the Piazza; all the houses in the town have suffered in the same degree. The violence of the earthquake extended within a radius of about twenty miles from this spot. To make the disaster still more fearful, those inhabitants who were fortunate enough to escape, could not (in consequence of the apathy of the officials) obtain food and many were literally starved. The authorities say that only three hundred and forty were killed i
This illustration was reproduced as a lithograph, and in a simplified form, in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by Robert Mallet, 2 vols., (London, Chapman and Hall, 1862), pp.72-73. Numbered "Photog. No. 50".
From a collection of photographs taken by Alphonse Bernoud and Grellier of the Neapolitan earthquake of 1857 and collected by Robert Mallet, who donated them to the Royal Society in 1858.
Robert Mallet (1810–1881), an Irish civil engineer and geologist, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1854.
Object history
With the support of the Royal Society, Mallet undertook a survey of the damage caused by the 1857 earthquake in Basilicata, in the Kingdom of Naples, to advance his theories of seismic waves. Two French photographers, Alphonse Bernoud and an unidentified man known as Grellier, were employed to photograph the affected region. For a description of Mallet's expedition and the circumstances and attributions of the photographs, see Graziano Ferrari and Anita McConnell, "Robert Mallet and the 'Great Neapolitan Earthquake' of 1857", Notes and Records of the Royal Society 59 (1) (2005), pp. 45–64.
Associated place