MonFest 2022 Fotografia - Francesco Negri (English Version)
From March 25 to June 12 2022
The castle of Monferrato (piazza Castello)
Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10AM to 01PM and from 03PM to 07PM
Free entry
Omaggio a Francesco Negri (Tribute to Francesco Negri)
Il laboratorio di Francesco Negri. Un fotografo tra due secoli (Francesco Negri's workshop. A photographer between two centuries)
edited by Luigi Mantovani and Elisa Costanzo
To explore the collection of thousands of pictures taken by Francesco Negri involves being immersed in the scientific, technologic, artistic, cultural and social world of the second half of the 17th century until the first quarter of the 18th century.With the photographs, books, photographic equipment and objects kept in the Civic Library and Civic Historic Archive of Casale Monferrato, it is possible to recreate the photographer's workshop: he employed science and technology of the time to satisfy his desire to learn and communicate knowledge. Photography was always the constant support and integration to complete his research. To consolidate his knowledge, there was also an extensive library with texts from Italy, England, France, Germany and the United States, as well as many photography magazines. Often between the books' pages, annotations, notes and chimical recipes for photographic preparations can be found.The micrographs, the stereoscope, the trichrome, the telephoto lens all patented by him, allow to look at both the world of the visible and of the invisible in a way that was, at the time, increbile and innovative. In the same way, the short films made with a camera for film shooting are also astonishing.His scientific and technologic interests, however, can not outshine his vision as a portraitist, being able to capture gestures, looks and expressions of adults and children, sometimes playing with experimentation and self-deprecation.
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Biography
Francesco Negri (Tromello 1841 – Casale Monferrato 1924), lawyer, mayor of Casale Monferrato, left an important photography collection dated from 1863 to 1915.
He distinguished himself for the eclectic interests, that would lead him to research and experiment in the most different fields: agriculture, microbiology, optics, art history.
Among the firsts in Italy to create micrographs, in 1884 he photographed Koch's bacillus and, thanks to the relevance of his observations, he would come in contact with the german scientist himself.
He designed a telephoto lens with variable focuses, that was put into production by the Koristka company in Milan in 1896, with which he took incredible pictures of Casale's plains from the hills surrounding the city.
He experimented with colour photography.
He studied the history and art in Monferrato, was friend with Samuel Butler, with whom he extensively explored the Sacro Monte routes in Crea and Varallo, attending the atelier of Angelo Morbelli.
His legacy includes a significant amount of pictures of landscapes, mountains, art cities, the Piemonte and Monferrato territories, these last ones of considerable artistic value. There are also many photographs that show Casale Monferrato at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, a rich treasure of great documentary importance to discover the character of a city changing in order to give space to the industry sector. -
Photogallery
