Photography

Photography in Monaco from its origins up to 1880

The photographers who witnessed the country's remarkable metamorphosis.

In 1860, reportage photography was still in its infancy, with glass plate negatives being used. One man harnessed a horse to a closed carriage and roamed the streets of Monaco and the surrounding countryside, capturing images for posterity, which he was quick to develop in his mobile darkroom. Others soon followed, and as time passed, technical resources became increasingly sophisticated, in line with Monaco's growing urbanism.

The art of photography, often developed by trained painters, underwent a rapid evolution as techniques for fixing images onto paper or glass were continuously being refined.

Famous photographers (from the Principality)

Hercule Florence

Hercule Florence, who coined the term "photography" was Monaco's first photographer.

In Brazil in January 1863, according to his diary, a lone Monegasque technician "printed" with light, onto silver nitrate paper, ornamental labels and diplomas drawn onto a glass plate opacified with lampblack.

This approach should not be overlooked, as advances in photography resulted from the discoveries of researchers whose history we have since tried to trace. The pioneer in this field was none other than Hercule Florence, who had a proven talent for drawing.

Born in Nice in 1804, to parents who resided in Monaco. From September 1825 to March 1829, at the request of Tsar Alexander I, Hercule joined Baron Langsdorf's expedition to the Amazon as a watercolourist. At the beginning of 1834, in a manuscript entitled Livre d'Annotations et de Premiers Matériaux, Hercule Florence was the first to use the verb "photograph", leading him to become internationally recognised as the inventor of the word photography.

Without evidence to the contrary, it is thought that the first photographic images of the Principality were taken later. This conclusion has been reached for several reasons: the landlocked nature of the country, which was difficult to access by land until 1868, and a small, underdeveloped port meant that the Principality was not a busy place. Furthermore, the cumbersome nature of the cameras discouraged photographers from travelling along the sometimes rudimentary paths.

Many old photographs of Monaco have been found without any details of date or author.

Jean Gilletta

Jean Gilletta, the Côte d'Azur's leading photographer, has captured every detail of Monte Carlo's fabulous history. The Principality was one of his favourite places to photograph.

Born in 1857, the son of a farmer from Levens jumped on the 8th art craze, which was at the height of its technical and aesthetic boom, to become a landscape photographer. He went on to establish his own publishing house in 1880, one of the oldest French firms still active in this sector. Many of his photographs have become icons of the Côte d'Azur Belle Epoque, such as the Casino Gardens in Monaco, the terraces of the Café de Paris, the ascent of St Dévote and the changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace.