Robert MacPherson; Assisi; albumin paper; black and white positive process; image size: height: 20.5 cm; width: 41.3 cm; dry stamp: recto and middle: in stylized bloom: ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSOCIATION; stamp: verso and travel photography; city; city view (veduta); hist. Place; town; village; landscape with plants; mountains; Assisi; Robert MacPherson studied medicine and painting in Edinburgh before he moved to Rome for health reasons around 1840. He worked there as a painter and art dealer for a good ten years and was encouraged to take photographs in 1851; rather coincidentally; by the visit of a friend. MacPherson documented the architecture; ancient monuments and ruins of Rome. From the late 1850s he also provided images of the Roman Campagna and the landscape of Umbria. MacPherson based his compositions on the viewpoints of the well-known vedute; but also sought new perspectives on the city to enhance the spatial impression of his pictures. In his landscape views; too; he shows expansive image details of great depth. MacPherson was highly regarded among his contemporaries for his choice of images and his technical skills. He sold his paintings primarily to British and American Rome tourists; but also exhibited them regularly in England and Scotland. (Sven Schumacher)