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Fratelli Alinari / Istituto di Edizioni Artistiche (I.D.E.A.)

Florence, Italy, 1852–present (Publisher, Photographer)


The Florentine publishing house and photography firm, Fratelli Alinari, Fotografi Editori, was founded in 1852 by Leopoldo Alinari (1832–1865), who was joined two years later by his brothers, Giuseppe (1837–1890) and Romualdo (†1890). The firm specialized in art publications, photographic portraits, and photographs of art works and historical monuments. Leopoldo served as the principal photographer, photographing artworks and monuments in Rome, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, and elsewhere in Italy. In 1892, Leopoldo's son, Vittorio Alinari (1859–1932), also a photographer, took over the firm and shifted the emphasis to Italian documentary photography. In 1920, the firm changed ownership and was renamed the Istituto di Edizioni Artistiche (I.D.E.A.). The firm remains active today, again under the name Alinari.

Fratelli Alinari Photography Credit Line
Fratelli Alinari Photography Credit Line
 

Fratelli Alinari / I.D.E.A. Credit Line
Fratelli Alinari / I.D.E.A. Credit Line

Fratelli Alinari
Fratelli Alinari

 

References:

Piero Becchetti, Fotografi e fotografia in Italia 1839–1880 (Rome: Quasar, 1978), 64.

Claudio Cornazzani and Mauro Dalla Casa, Romagna...: ricerca storica: dalle origini della cartolina postale del Regno d'Italia alle cartoline illustrate di Ravenna a partire dal 1890, e dei relativi fotografi, editori, illustratori, pittori, scultori e artisti vari: classificazione e reproduzione di cartoline di Ravenna e della sua provincia (Ravenna: Circolo filatelico e numismatico Dante Aligheri: CAPIT, 2006), 62.

Filippo Zevi, ed., Alinari: Photographers of Florence, 1852–1920 (London: Alinari Edizioni/Scottish Arts Council, 1978).