Robert MacPherson had a lifelong interest in sculpture and sought to photograph every statue in every major collection in Rome. During the height of his career (1856-63), he produced several hundred photographs of sculptures in the Vatican, St. Peter’s cathedral, and many other churches and sites throughout Rome. Like his other sculptural studies, MacPherson’s photograph of Michelangelo’s Moses in the Roman church of San Pietro in Vincoli is very large and would have cost a small fortune to the mid-19th-century buyer. MacPherson’s preference for large formats, however, along with his dramatic compositions and profound inter­est in the possibilities of the photographic process, bespeaks his precocious pursuit of photography as a fine art, a medium capable of creative personal expression despite its seeming matter-of-factness. This work is included in the exhibition Italy on Paper, on view until July 29.Image:Robert MacPherson (Scottish, 1811-1872)Sculptural Study of Michelangelo’s Moses, Rome, ca. 1860Albumen print Gift of Marilyn W. Grounds, 1981.42.14 
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Robert MacPherson had a lifelong interest in sculpture and sought to photograph every statue in every major collection in Rome. During the height of his career (1856-63), he produced several hundred photographs of sculptures in the Vatican, St. Peter’s cathedral, and many other churches and sites throughout Rome. Like his other sculptural studies, MacPherson’s photograph of Michelangelo’s Moses in the Roman church of San Pietro in Vincoli is very large and would have cost a small fortune to the mid-19th-century buyer. MacPherson’s preference for large formats, however, along with his dramatic compositions and profound inter­est in the possibilities of the photographic process, bespeaks his precocious pursuit of photography as a fine art, a medium capable of creative personal expression despite its seeming matter-of-factness. 

This work is included in the exhibition Italy on Paper, on view until July 29.

Image:
Robert MacPherson (Scottish, 1811-1872)
Sculptural Study of Michelangelo’s Moses, Rome, ca. 1860
Albumen print
 Gift of Marilyn W. Grounds, 1981.42.14 

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