{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O182545"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O182545/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BX1393/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BX1393/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009BX1393","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O182545/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O182545","accessionNumber":"68040","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"The Serenade (Mario and Grisi in 'Il Trovatore')","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Opera singers Giulia Grisi and Giovanni Mario enact a scene from Verdi’s Il Trovatore (The Troubadour). Their costumes and contrived poses are at odds with the ordinary Victorian garden setting. The image was used to illustrate sheet music, and was reproduced as a small, collectible, carte-de-visite photograph, but this print was made for display. In 1858 it was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (then the South Kensington Museum), to which it was bequeathed in 1868\r\n","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph of a couple in historical dress in front of the entrance to a building. The woman is standing on steps on the left side and the man with a lute leans against the pillar of the staircase on the right side.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Caldesi & Montecchi","id":"A9053"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":"attributed to"}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"},{"text":"albumen process","id":"AAT133274"},{"text":"wet collodion process","id":"AAT133299"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print from wet collodion on glass negative.","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2009BX1393"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"1056","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1857","earliest":"1857-01-01","latest":"1857-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Chauncey Hare Townshend ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"42.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"35.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph attributed to Caldesi & Montecchi, 'The Serenade', about 1857, Albumen print from wet collodion on glass negative, 19thC, Townshend bequest.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Ahlund, Mikael (ed.), <i>The Pre-Raphaelites</i> Stockholm : Nationalmuseum, 2009","id":"AUTH354374"},"details":"no. 56","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"","id":""}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"musical","id":"x34780"},{"text":"lute","id":"AAT42101"},{"text":"theatre","id":"x32431"},{"text":"stage","id":"AAT4751"},{"text":"","id":""}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Photography Centre 2018-20:\n</b>\r\n\r\nCollection in Focus: Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798–1868)\r\n\r\nChauncy Hare Townshend was one of the few serious collectors of photography in the early years of its development. Apart from Prince Albert, he remains the only identifiable British private collector of early photographs on such a scale. He was an extremely wealthy art collector and connoisseur who moved in the highest social and literary circles – Charles Dickens even dedicated Great Expectations to him. Townshend bequeathed his large art collection, including paintings, furniture, gemstones, books and coins, as well as his photographs, to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in 1868. His impressive photography collection ranged from images of political, military and contemporary events to a particularly striking group of French fine art photographs. Practising photographers tended to collect photographs, exchanging works as examples of style and process. But Townshend, who was not a photographer, recognised both photography’s documentary value, and even more so, its exciting new artistic capabilities.\r\n\r\n1. Leonida Caldesi (1823–91) and Mattia Montecchi (1816–71)\r\nThe Serenade (Mario and Grisi in ‘Il Trovatore’)\r\n1857\r\nAlbumen print\r\nMuseum no. 68040","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Making It Up: Photographic Fictions (2018)\r\n\r\nOpera singers Giulia Grisi and Giovanni Mario enact a scene from Verdi’s Il Trovatore (The Troubadour). Their costumes and contrived poses are at odds with the ordinary Victorian garden setting. The image was used to illustrate sheet music, and was reproduced as a small, collectible, carte-de-visite photograph, but this print was made for display. In 1858 it was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum (then the South Kensington Museum), to which it was bequeathed in 1868\r\n\r\nMarta Weiss","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Label for 'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions' (3 May 2013 - 12 January 2014):\r\n\r\nCaldesi & Montecchi (active 1850s)\r\nThe Serenade (Mario and Grisi in ‘Il Trovatore’)\r\nAbout 1857\r\n\r\nOpera singers Giulia Grisi and Giovanni Mario enact a scene from Verdi’s Il Trovatore (The Troubador). Their costumes and contrived poses are at odds with the ordinary Victorian garden setting. The image was used to illustrate sheet music, and reproduced as a small, collectible, carte-de-visite photograph, but this print was made for display. In 1858 it was exhibited at the V&A (then the South Kensington Museum). \r\n \r\nAlbumen print\r\nTownshend bequest\r\nMuseum no. 68:040\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["68040"],"accessionNumberNum":"68040","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-31","recordCreationDate":"2009-01-13","availableToBook":false}}