Abstract EN:

Seldom photographed, the architectural and landscape complex of the european palaces of the yuanmingyuan, the old summer palace of the qing emperors in beijing, was burned during the france-british sack of eighteen sixty. It is now almost completely destroyed in its original shape. This makes photography a major source of documentation. A hundred and fifty images have been collected to date, as a support for an extensive study of the palaces. They are the framework for a research on the photographers themselves, subject of this dissertation. The study covers a dozen of western photographers, amateurs and professionals, who represented the site between eighteen hundred sixty and nineteen hundred twenty-five. This is done by identifying obscure or unknown photographers, analyzing their work on the palaces as well as their photographic activities in beijing, and also by defining their individual ties with china. In this way, the work sheds some light on photography in beijing during the period of reference.