Napper and Frith. A Photographic Journey Through the Iberian Peninsula of the 19th Century is a study in 120 images – the photographs to be presented in the exhibition – of the places in the Iberian Peninsula that the Welsh photographer R.P. Napper visited in the 19th century in order to photograph them for an assignment given him by Francis Frith. These images cover, geographically, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar.

The exhibition is the result of a piece of research work on the company Francis Frith & Co., one of the first big companies devoted to the production of photographic copies en masse. This investigation leads us to question and review the authorship of some images traditionally attributed to Francis Frith who, we now know, worked in Great Britain, Egypt and Palestine, but never in the Iberian Peninsula.

Many of the photographs that are part of this exhibition have never been exhibited together before, many are unpublished, and come from both public institutions and private collectors. Napper and Frith. A Photographic Journey Through the Iberian Peninsula of the 19th Century analyses a way of working – by delegation – that was habitual in photography in the 19th century, and makes it possible to discover the figure of R.P. Napper, who has never had a monographic exhibition dedicated to him before.

Exhibition catalogue

Exhibition organized by the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, in collaboration with the Fondo Fotográfico of the University of Navarre.