Naples: Macaroni Maker, ca. 1880 – 1890

About the Work

Naples held great appeal for tourists not only because of its charming coastal scenery and awe-inspiring Mount Vesuvius, but also thanks to its customs and traditions. Particularly from the 1880s onwards, Italian-based photographers increasingly marketed studies of human beings that shaped and continually fuelled the cliché of the poor but carefree population of Southern Italy. The Edizioni Brogi company staged its native performers against the backdrop of an osteria. In the foreground, a scruffy-looking man and two barefoot boys stand side by side, grinning cheerfully into the camera while eating macaroni with their hands as if it was the most natural thing in the world. To lend the artificial arrangement a connection to reality, Brogi claims in the printed text above that the photograph had been made “from life”.