Monastery arches, Church of St. Dominico, Polla
Date
1857-1858
Creator
Alphonse Bernoud (1820 - 1889, French) , Photographer
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 70mm
width (print): 133mm
height (mount): 82mm
width (mount): 175mm
width (print): 133mm
height (mount): 82mm
width (mount): 175mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Stereoscopic view of earthquake damage to Polla, Italy. Architectural study showing the monastery arches attached to the church of St. Dominico, with substantial loss to the upper tiers and a collapsed cross-wall to the left as viewed.
Titled ‘Polla” in ink and numbered “170” in pencil, left-hand margin, front mount. Inscribed verso “Polla. page 272, p.II”.
Unpublished but referenced in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by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. 170 (Coll. Roy. Soc.) vol. 1, page 298, “The crown of the upper tier of arches had all fallen in, and they, as well as the cross wall seen to the left of the picture broken off, has all been thrown northward, as the marks of abrasion upon the plaster of the arched wall testify.”
Titled ‘Polla” in ink and numbered “170” in pencil, left-hand margin, front mount. Inscribed verso “Polla. page 272, p.II”.
Unpublished but referenced in Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The first principles of observational seismology as developed in the report to the Royal Society..., by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. 170 (Coll. Roy. Soc.) vol. 1, page 298, “The crown of the upper tier of arches had all fallen in, and they, as well as the cross wall seen to the left of the picture broken off, has all been thrown northward, as the marks of abrasion upon the plaster of the arched wall testify.”
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