A look from outside: Foreign photographers in Palermo between the 19th and the 20th century

When photography entered the scene in the mid-19th century, the representation of Sicily consisted largely of drawings, paintings, and written accounts that foreign travelers made during the previous century and, even after the diffusion of the new medium, the photographic description of the island was mostly left to them. The continuity of this 'external gaze' motivated the choice of an analysis aiming to explain its influence over the photographic image of Sicilian cities. Using Palermo as a case-study, this article investigates the relationship between the previous visual tradition and the repertories of foreign photographers. Its purpose is to understand how their description of the city evolved between the 19th and the early 20th century, and in what way their choices in subjects, cutting and framing influenced the construction of visual tropes.