{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1097839"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1097839/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JE5356/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JE5356/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JE5356","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1097839/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1097839","accessionNumber":"62001","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Catacomb of S. Pontianus - Corridor and Staircase at the entrance, restored A.D. 858-867, by Pope Nicolas","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Photograph of a corridor and staircase at the entrance of the Catacomb of S. Pontianus, Rome. Taken with a magnesium flash.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Parker, John Henry","id":"AUTH325233"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Smeaton, Charles","id":"AUTH339377"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"mounted albumen print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Archaeology","id":"THES48874"},{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Topography","id":"THES252988"},{"text":"Photographs of Italy","id":"THES288348"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2016JE5356"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLC","id":"THES49171"},"free":"","case":"MB2H","shelf":"DR8","box":"PHOTO"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1866-1868","earliest":"1866-01-01","latest":"1868-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":"Smeaton was commissioned by Parker in 1866 and died in 1868"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"mount","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This object is part of a series of over 3,300 photographs documenting the principal monuments, artworks and artefacts of Rome from the classical age to the 1600s. The photographs were taken between 1864 and 1879 under the direction of John Henry Parker, the founder of the British and American Archaeological Society of Rome, and many were published in his <i>Archaeology of Rome</i> (1874-1879). Parker employed local photographers including Adriano De Bonis, Filippo Spina, Carlo Baldassare Simelli, Francesco Sidoli, Filippo Lais and Giovanni Battista Colamedici, as well as a Canadian, Charles Smeaton. The Victoria and Albert Museum holds a large collection of the photographs taken before 1870.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Charles Smeaton of a corridor and staircase of the Catacomb of S. Pontianus, Rome, from a set commissioned by John Henry Parker, 1864-1870","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Historical photographs : A catalogue of three thousand three hundred photographs of antiquities in Rome and Italy, with dates, historical or approximative, and a general index prepared under the direction of John Henry Parker</u>, London, 1879"}],"production":"photograph taken with magnesium light (an early form of flash created by burning magnesium wire)","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[{"text":"British and American Archaeological Society of Rome","id":"AUTH334496"}],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"catacomb","id":"AAT367"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"In the 1860s, John Henry Parker of the British and American Archaeological Society of Rome began an ambitious project to photographically record the city’s principal monuments, art and architecture. He worked with a team of photographers, including Smeaton, whose early experiments with flash photography proved vital to revealing Rome’s underground catacombs. Smeaton used magnesium flares to illuminate the dark interiors and usually hidden features, including wall paintings.","date":{"text":"May 2023","earliest":"2023-05-01","latest":"2023-05-31"}}],"partNumbers":["62001"],"accessionNumberNum":"62001","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"John Henry Parker catalogue number","id":"THES278763"},"number":"611"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-31","recordCreationDate":"2009-07-01","availableToBook":false}}