Foley family photograph album, 1884
1 volume
The Foley family photograph album (approximately 41cm x 34cm), a gift from Sister M. Regina of the Sacred Heart Convent in Oakland, California, contains around 230 commercially produced photographic prints of paintings, sculptures, buildings, with views of Grenada and present-day Yosemite National Park. Fourteen loose prints are housed in an envelope laid into the volume, and the others are pasted as many as nine to a page. A title detailing the volume's provenance is stamped in gold on the front cover.
The album contains numerous photographic reproductions of important late-Renaissance paintings, 19th century Biblical and history paintings, portraits of 18th and 19th-century European monarchs, and sculptures of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Many of the artists are identified, with Raphael most prominently featured. A few 19th century genre paintings are also reproduced. Napoléon Bonaparte and his family is a reoccurring subject. The statues are primarily likenesses of Greek and Roman philosophers, authors, and mythological characters, plus more modern figures such as Galileo and Machiavelli. The album also contains photographs of famous European buildings and structures such as the Roman Coliseum, the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, the Paris Panthéon, Saint Peter's Basilica at The Vatican, the tomb of Victorio Alferio Astensi in Florence, and that of Napoléon Bonaparte in Paris. Several pages of individual portraits depict the crowned European monarchs as of 1882. A handful of photographs are scenes of the waterfront of Grenada and impressive views of the waterfalls, mountains, and other natural scenery in present-day Yosemite National Park. Of note is an unusual view of tourists at the gate to the Yosemite geyers and steambath.