Retiro Station. Buenos Aires. Circa 1870.

Vintage photograph in "carte-de-visite" (visiting card) format. Albumen print, sepia-toned. Mounted on white cardstock, with a lithographed inscription on the reverse advertising the establishment: “Fotografía de la Florida / Florida 80 / Buenos Aires.”

Dimensions: Photograph, 5.5 x 9.1 cm; mount, 6.2 x 10.4 cm. From the collection of the late César Gotta.

Taken from an elevated vantage point, the image captures the bustling activity at the terminus of the Northern Railway (*Ferrocarril del Norte*). The rooftops of the structures closest to the photographer provide a sense of perspective, framing a panoramic view of the monumental building.

The photographic establishment—identified by its address at 80 Florida Street, a landmark thoroughfare in the city of Buenos Aires—housed several different studios over time. Among them was that of the American Artur Terry, who opened his business there in 1861. Available records indicate that, around 1864, Terry sold the studio to Fufs Gastari, who was likely responsible for the photograph presented here. (1)

Note: 1. Fernando San Martín, *Diccionario biográfico de fotógrafos en Argentina* [Biographical Dictionary of Photographers in Argentina], Gráfica Laiglon, Quilmes, 2023, pp. 237 and 369.

Abel Alexander

President, Ibero-American Society for the History of Photography