WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Robert Macpherson

Robert Macpherson

Artist

WA-00028291

PhotographyPhotographyRenaissance

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ7350504 ULAN500126166

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1981

No image

Photography as Printmaking

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1968

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/3676
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Robert Macpherson was a British photographer and antiquarian active in mid-19th-century Rome, where he documented classical sites and Renaissance architecture with large-format paper negatives. Working primarily in albumen print, he produced systematic photographic surveys of Italian cultural patrimony that established him as a pioneering figure in archaeological photography. His archive remains a significant record of Roman monuments and artworks as they existed in the 1850s and 1860s.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Photography

Medium

Photography

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York Art Institute of Chicago National Gallery of Art

Canonical record

Artworks (46)

Coliseum

1862 · Albumen print

Image/paper: 30.2 × 41.1 cm (11 15/16 × 16 3/16 in.); Mount: 49 × 64 cm (19 5/16 × 25 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Ruins of Roman Forum)

1862 · Albumen print

Image/paper: 31.5 × 40.2 cm (12 7/16 × 15 7/8 in.); Mount: 46.4 × 64.1 cm (18 5/16 × 25 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

The Templum Minerva Medica and the Surrounding Area

1861 · albumen print

overall: 25.5 x 40.6 cm (10 1/16 x 16 in.)

National Gallery of Art

View of Rome from Monte Pincio

1860 · albumen print on paper, photographic support, cardboard

width: 394 cm, height: 296 cm, height: 486 cm, width: 640 cm

Rijksmuseum

Palace of the Caesars on the Palatine

1860 · Albumen print

Image, oval: 30.7 × 39.9 cm (12 1/8 × 15 3/4 in.); Paper: 49.2 × 64.4 cm (19 3/8 × 25 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

BAS RELIEF ON THE INTERIOR OF THE ARCH OF TITUS, ROME

1860 · Albumen silver print

14 1/2 × 11 1/8" (36.9 × 28.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

FALLS AT TIVOLI, ITALY

1860 · Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

11 3/8 × 15" (29 × 38.2 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Ruin of Temple of Minerva Medica, Rome

1860 · Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

10 1/8 × 15 7/8" (25.7 × 40.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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THE DYING GAUL, ROME

1860 · Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

9 1/8 × 14 1/8" (23.3 × 36 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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ST. PETER'S CATHEDRAL

1860 · Albumen silver print from a glass negative

irregular 13 1/4 × 16 11/16" (33.6 × 42.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

St. Peter's

1858 · albumen print from wet collodion negative

Image: 26.8 x 37.9 cm (10 9/16 x 14 15/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Cloisters of St. Paul's, the Basilica, Outside the Walls of Rome

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 34.8 x 25.8 cm (13 11/16 x 10 3/16 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

The Theater of Marcellus, from the Piazza Montanara

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 41.9 x 27.4 cm (16 1/2 x 10 13/16 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Cloaca Maxima

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 31 x 37.2 cm (12 3/16 x 14 5/8 in.)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

The Valley of the Anio, with the Upper and Lower Cascatelle, Mecenas's Villa, and Distant Campagna

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 30.6 x 40.1 cm (12 1/16 x 15 13/16 in.), oval

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

The Hermaphrodite

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 6 3/8 in. × 13 in. (16.2 × 33 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Falls of Terni

1858 · Albumen silver print from glass negative

Image: 27.6 x 37.7 cm (10 7/8 x 14 13/16 in.), oval

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Arch of Titus, 1855

1855 · Albumen silver print

Image/paper: 36.9 × 27.7 cm (14 9/16 × 10 15/16 in.); Mount: 64.5 × 49.2 cm (25 7/16 × 19 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

WattsOS

FORUM OF NERVA

1855 · Albumen silver print from a glass negative

14 7/8 × 10 1/2" (37.9 × 26.7 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

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TEMPLE OF VESTA

1855 · Albumen silver print from a glass negative

12 1/8 × 15 5/8" (30.9 × 39.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

THE THEATER OF MARCELLUS, FROM THE PIAZZA MONTANARA, ROME

1855 · Albumen silver print from a glass negative

16 1/16 × 11 1/4" (40.8 × 28.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Grotto of Egeria, Rome

1853 · Albumen print

Image/paper: 30.1 × 38.2 cm (11 7/8 × 15 1/16 in.); Mount: 46.4 × 64.1 cm (18 5/16 × 25 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Temple of Clitumnus

1852 · albumen print from wet collodion negative

Image: 35.8 x 25.9 cm (14 1/8 x 10 3/16 in.); Matted: 71.1 x 55.9 cm (28 x 22 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Photographs of Views of Rome

1852 · 47 albumen silver prints

Dimensions variable, see individual object records

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 46 artworks →

Artwork sources (6)

46 published of 58 catalogued · 30 with image

Art Institute Chicago
24 published24 img
MoMA
12 publishedof 24 catalogued2 img
The Met
6 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
2 published2 img
Rijksmuseum
1 published1 img
Nga
1 published1 img

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 3)

3 entries · 1 sources

View of Rome from Monte Pincio
1860 · Rijksmuseum · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
St. Peter's
1858 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Temple of Clitumnus
1852 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Movements2

Photography Renaissance

Collections4

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago National Gallery of Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

National Gallery of Art

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography

New York · 1981

Group Exhibition Photography as Printmaking

New York · 1968