Giorgio Sommer was one of Europe’s most important and prolific photographers of the 19th century. Active from 1857 to 1888, he produced thousands of images of archeological ruins, landscapes, art objects and portraits.
He was born in Frankfurt am Main, where he studied business. Sommer opened his first photography studio in Switzerland, where he made relief images of mountains for the Swiss government. In 1856 moved his business to Naples and later formed a partnership with fellow German photographer Edmund Behles who owned a studio in Rome. Operating from their respective Naples and Rome studios, Sommer and Behles became one of the largest and most prolific photography concerns in Italy.
He held studios in Naples at:
Strada di Chiaia 168
Via Monte di Dio 4 and 8
Piazza della Vittoria
Sommer's catalog included images from the Vatican Museum, the National Archeological Museum at Naples, the Roman ruins at Pompeii, as well as street and architectural scenes of Naples, Florence, Rome, Capri and Sicily. Most notably, Sommer published his comprehensive album Dintorni di Napoli which contained over one hundred images of everyday scenes in Naples.