“Polla, Chiesa di St. Trinita”
Date
1857
Creator
Alphonse Bernoud (1820 - 1889, French) , Photographer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 73mm
width (print): 145mm
height (mount): 86mm
width (mount): 177mm
width (print): 145mm
height (mount): 86mm
width (mount): 177mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Stereoscopic view of earthquake damage to Polla, Italy. Landscape study showing the site where the Church of Santa Trinita (St. Trinity) had stood. A figure in a backpack stands among the fallen rubble, facing away from the camera. Damage to the original negative along the upper edge of the two frames.
Titled “Polla, Chiesa di St. Trinita” and numbered “166” right-hand margin, front mount. Inscribed verso “Polla. Page 269, p.II.” in pencil.
Unpublished but referenced in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by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). Photog. No. 166 (Coll. Roy. Soc.) vol. 1, page 294.
Titled “Polla, Chiesa di St. Trinita” and numbered “166” right-hand margin, front mount. Inscribed verso “Polla. Page 269, p.II.” in pencil.
Unpublished but referenced in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by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). Photog. No. 166 (Coll. Roy. Soc.) vol. 1, page 294.
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