Original photograph of Pedra de Itapuca by Georges Leuzinger

One of the most famous images by Georges Leuzinger, one of the pioneers of photography in Brazil: Pedra de Itapuca in Niterói.

Photograph of Pedra de Itapuca, in Niterói, by Georges Leuzinger. 14.4 cm x 9.8 cm. ~ 1867. Rio de Janeiro. Good state. Single piece.

Of all the pioneering photographers in Brazil, Georges Leuzinger (1813 - 1892) is the one who best understood the commercial possibilities of Brazilian photography. Born in Switzerland, he came to Rio de Janeiro at the age of 19. He began selling lithographs and, realizing the new potential of photography, he began selling engravings by renowned artists from the late 1850s onwards.

After a few years, Leuzinger started taking pictures himself. Very talented in his compositions, he won photography prizes, the first awarded to a Brazilian photographer, notably in Paris at the 1867 Universal Exhibition. At the same time, he hired a German photographer who produced the first images of Indians and the Amazon. Leuzinger was also one of the first to discover the extraordinary views of the Rio de Janeiro mountains and to enhance the center of Rio de Janeiro with colonial architecture.

Pedra de Itapuca is a rock formation located on Praia de Icaraí, in the municipality of Niterói, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was listed in 1985 by the State Institute of Cultural Heritage and is a traditional surfing spot in the city. "Itapuca" means "cleft stone" in the Tupi language.

Leuzinger is one of the first photographers from Brazil, the photographs found in Brazil are generally in poor condition, those rarely found in Europe or the United States are of better quality, such as this one recently found in France.