Casiano Alguacil

Casiano Alguacil, (Toledo, XIX century).
Book of photographs of monuments of Toledo.
Measurements: 32 x 25 x 2 cm.

The book Monumentos Artísticos de Toledo by Casiano Alguacil, published around 1870, is an outstanding work that presents a series of large format photographs of Toledo's most emblematic monuments. This publication is part of the series Monumentos Artísticos de España, in which Alguacil documented representative architectures of various Spanish cities.

Each issue of the book includes a photograph mounted on cardboard decorated with a border, accompanied by a printed page with a brief historical-artistic commentary. The images, taken using the albumen technique, show details of Toledo Cathedral, the Bisagra Gate, the San Martín Bridge and other significant places in the city. These photographs capture not only the monumental architecture, but also scenes of daily life and popular types of the time.

Alguacil's work is considered one of the most important in the history of 19th century Spanish photography. His artistic and documentary approach has been studied in several publications, such as Casiano Alguacil: Los inicios de la fotografía en Toledo (2006) by Beatriz Sánchez Torija, and Toledo entre dos siglos en la fotografía de Casiano Alguacil, 1832-1914 (2008), published by the Toledo City Council. Currently, many of Alguacil's original photographs are preserved in the Municipal Archives of Toledo, and a selection of them have been digitized and made available to the public in the Hispanic Digital Library (Biblioteca Digital Hispánica).