Alcuni lavori artistici di Francesco Salghetti-Drioli riprodotti fotograficamente

Large folio (385x295 mm). [4] ll., VIII plates. Text printed on recto only within a thin typographic frame. Album with original reproduction of Salghetti's painting in semi-glossy albumen prints toned with gold chloride, all of them protected by a tissue guard. Contemporary half-leather, panels with gilt title within a blind-tooled frame on the front panel, gilt ornaments on spine, gilt edges (panels slightly rubbed). Some occasional foxing, overall a good and genuine copy.

Rare first and only edition, published in Zadar in April 1875 to celebrate the wedding of the painter's son, Simeone, to Emma Drioli. This album contains photographic reproductions of Salghetti's paintings, made by Tomaso Burato (1840–1910), the most important nineteenth-century photographer in Dalmatia. The album reproduces some of Salghetti's lost works, as well as preparatory studies for his later, more well-known paintings. This album is of exceptional importance to the history of photography in Croatia, not only because it was Tomaso Burato's first photographic album, but also because it was the first high-quality typographical work to feature photographic reproductions of works of art. Consequently, this work can be considered the first authentic art photo-monography in Croatian cultural heritage.
Francesco Salghetti-Drioli was an Italian-Dalmatian painter and entrepreneur known for religious paintings, portraits, and sketches of Dalmatian life, as well as managing a famous Maraschino liqueur factory. Trained in Venice, Rome, and Florence, he belonged to the Purist movement and was a key cultural figure in nineteeth-century Zadar. 

Italian Union Catalogue, VEA\0766104.

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