Naya, Carlo

Carlo Naya Ital. Carlo Naya 1816 , Tronzano Vercellella - 1882 , Venice ) - Italian photographer, known for photographs of Venice, including works of art and views of the city. He also captured the process of restoration of frescoes by Giotto in the Skrovegni Chapel in Padua .

Carlo was born in Tronzano Vercellosa in 1816 and received his law degree from the University of Pisa , which he graduated in 1840 . The legacy allowed him to travel to large cities in Europe , Asia and northern Africa , where he occasionally photographed only for pleasure. Around 1845, he did not work long in Prague before opening his studio in Istanbul the following year, where he worked as a professional daguerreotype ^[1] . and offered his services as a portrait photographer. In 1857 , after the death of his brother, Carlo returns to Italy and he opens his studio in Venice ^[2] together with the photographer and optician Carlo Ponti . Through him, Naya sold his work. Together they successfully sold photographs of night landscapes made from morning shots by tinting by hand ^[3] . However, they soon quarreled and Naya opened his own studio. In 1868, he opened a large photo store on Piazza San Marco , which soon competed with Carlo Ponti. In the second half of the 19th century , these two studios were considered the foremost photography enterprises in Venice. At the time of Naya's death in 1882 , Edward Wilson, an experienced and knowledgeable photography writer, described Naya's studio as "the largest photography company we have ever seen, located in an old palazzo across the Grand Canal ." ^[1] .

Naya and Ponti were both photographers of Venice's tourist attractions. Due to the great freedom of movement of tourists who want to see the splendor of Italy, it became more and more. They were ready to take souvenirs with them to show them to friends and family, and to remind them of the places where they had been. Thus, a photographer with a large stock of negative photographs depicting buildings, monuments, canals, palaces, views of the harbor and gondolas of Venice, was confident in a stable and reliable income for many years. ^[1] .