ANTONIO BEATO
Ritorno a Venezia

Fotografie tra viaggio, architettura e paesaggio

15 October 2025 – 15 March 2026
Venice, Fortuny Museum

Curated by
João Rocha
Marco Ferrari
Cristina Da Roit

In collaboration with
Università IUAV di Venezia
Università di Évora

When the British photographer Francis Frith (1822-1898) reached the historic site of Abu Simbel on his first travels in Egypt from September 1856 to July 1857, the “Venetian” brothers and photographers Antonio Beato and Felice Beato were travelling in the Mediterranean towards the Middle East between Egypt, Turkey and the Holy Land. The two photographers had already documented the Crimean War (1853-1856) and in the following year together or separately, they would photograph the revolt of the Indian population against the English empire and the second Opium War.

Despite representing a stereotypically cultural expression of 19th-century travellers, their photographic campaigns went beyond the spirit of the Grand Tour. One might inquire what stimulated these two “Venetians” to undertake such lengthy journeys for the purpose of photography. What were the motives for establishing a presence in distant locations and tackling on such a fruitful and innovative photographic project?

Around 1860, Antonio Beato travelled from China to Cairo, “the mother of cities”, as Ibn Battuta described it, and for almost forty years he captured, with meticulous detail and a discerning eye for composition, a series of remarkable images of Egypt’s temples and archaeological sites, the sophisticated architecture of the Cairo Citadel, the dynamic intricacy of the Mamluk edifices, and the surrounding landscapes.

Printed either individually or in exquisite albums with photographs also by Félix Bonfils, Adelphoi Zangaki or Pascal Sébah, these images became objects of an Orient that could only be imagined, which a largely European elite was eager to acquire. They marked the advent of documentary photography and are likely to have been instrumental in establishing the study of early Islamic architecture too.

About two hundred years of Antonio Beato’s birth and the fortieth anniversary of the inaugural and, thus far, sole Venetian exhibition devoted to the Beato brothers (Ikona Gallery), it seemed appropriate to bring the work of this important photographer back to his native region. One of the exhibition’s objectives is to fill this gap by presenting a group of Beato’s photographs, which have been identified in the archives of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, and in other Italian and international collections.

The exhibition will elucidate the multifaceted cultural and political implications inherent in the photographs, extending beyond conventional interpretations. It will examine the relations between the architectural and contextual elements associated with the objects photographed, and a curated selection of 19th-century books will provide visitors with a fuller cultural context.

The exhibition is given a congenial venue in the Museo di Palazzo Fortuny, not only because of the role of this institution in the Venetian cultural panorama and its close ties to photography, but also because the story of Mariano Fortuny seems involuntarily linked to that of Antonio Beato. In the early 20th century, he also visited the same places, drawing, photographing them and collecting his memories in precious notebooks, still preserved in his private library, which will now be exhibited for the first time.

Admission from 15 October 2025 to 15 March 2026, with the Museum’s hours and ticket.