Preview
Upload Date
3-25-2025
Department
Classics
Label Text
Ricordo depicts a glass paperweight containing the image of The Basilica della Santa Casa in Loreto, Italy–the Sanctuary of the Holy House. This image is printed on paper and glued to the underside of the weight, viewable through the glass bubble. On the bottom of the image is the text “Ricordo Di Loreto,” or “memory of Loreto.” To the left of the print, further down the road from the camera, stands a group of men. The basilica is pictured at quite a distance, and the foreground of the image is full of the foliage on the hillside leading up to the shrine. Presumably this would be the primary view of the shrine from the main city of Loreto. By all accounts, this paperweight represents the image of someone’s memory of Loreto.
This photo seeks to eliminate all of the above information from the viewing of this object. What is left when you remove any indication of place from such a souvenir? At the same time, the warmth of the yellow light and the texture of the backdrop evoke the image on the visibly aged paper backing. The texture of the backdrop also helps to indicate the scale of the paperweight. Posterior lighting helps to highlight the curvature of the glass bubble. These elements, together with the above description, seek to create an accurate impression of the underlying image without showing it at all.
Camera Settings: Aperture
F11
Camera Settings: Shutter Speed
0"4
Camera Settings: ISO
100
Lighting
Posterior lighting on full
Photoshop Adjustments
Reduced white light brightness, increased warmth of overall image, cropped photo
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Found in
ADC study collections
