Luigi Balugani l’esplora(pit)tore alle sorgenti del Nilo

In the second half of the 18th century, the Bolognese draftsman Luigi Balugani joined the explorer James Bruce in an expedition aiming to document the antiquities of North Africa. Having been the first to utilize a “camera obscura” on the field, Bruce and Balugani can be considered pioneers of photoreportage, since they created the first visual documentation of this kind in history. Today these drawings are housed in the Royal Collection at Windsor. Later, the expedition ventured into the Middle East before shifting its focus toward the source of the Nile river. Travelling through Egypt, Arabia, and Abyssinia, Balugani produced over 300 drawings of plants and animals, which are now preserved at the Center for British Art at Yale University. Bruce and Balugani reached the source of the Blue Nile on November 4th, 1770, but in March 1771 the untimely death of Balugani left all the honors to Bruce, who did not fully recognize the talent and contributions of the Bolognese draftsman.