Photographic Сollection of Gavrila Ryumin (Gabriel de Rumine)

The paper contains the biography of Gabriel de Rumine (1841–1871) and analyzes the photographs taken by him in 1859, which are now kept in the Scientific Archive of the Institute for the History of Material Culture, the Russian Academy of Sciences. De Rumine’s life was short, yet bright. He was of Russian ancestry but born in Switzerland. A well-educated and well-traveled man of wide interests, he is known for having been involved in the foundation of the University in Lausanne. G. de Rumine was a talented photographer, so in 1858 he joined the Société française de photographie.The most famous of his photographs were taken in 1859 during the voyage of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich to the East. Having much historical and artistic merit, these images represent the ancient monuments of Italy, Greece, and the Holy Land. The photographer paid most of his attention to Pompeii. G. de Rumine’s photographs related to that voyage can be found in the collections of different museums of the world. Although it is in the archive of the Institute for the History of Material Culture RAS where the most complete set of them is preserved, it has been unfamiliar to the professionals so far. The analysis of the set and the history of the collection prove G. de Rumine’s photography as one of the gems of the artistic heritage of the world

Art · Art history · Biography · History of photography · Photography · Visual arts · Early Modern Spanish Literature · History · Renaissance Literature and Culture