Untitled (Ruins of Roman Forum)

Abandoning medical studies in his native Edinburgh, Robert MacPherson traveled to Rome in 1840 to try his hand as a landscape painter. His move coincided with a rise in tourism to Italy, in particular to the country’s classical monuments. MacPherson took up photography in 1851 to capitalize on this burgeoning tourist trade, and he soon gained success as a landscape photographer producing deluxe views for British customers. MacPherson has carefully omitted signs of the present in this image of the Forum, such as traffic, local Italians, and commercial vendors, to focus instead on a mythic past for buyers eager to own a piece of Western civilization.