Vintage photo of the signing of the Lateran Treaty of 1929, 15.5 x 10.5 on its original 18.5 x 14.5 photographer’s mount, signed in ink on the mount beneath the image “Mussolini” and “Pietro Card. Gasparri” [the Cardinal Secretary of State, who signed as the personal representative of Pope Pius XI], as well as by four other officials. After the decades-long “Roman Question” between the Italian Government and the papacy, which had begun with Italy’s annexation of Rome in 1870, an historic agreement regarding the political sovereignty of the Holy See was finally reached in 1929 with the Lateran Concordat. The main provisions of the historic treaty guaranteed the existence of the Vatican as an independent state, clarified the position of the Catholic Church within Italy, and spelled out the settlement of financial claims made by the Holy See following its loss of temporal power in 1870. In very good condition, with a few tiny surface marks to image, scattered soiling, staining, and light rippling to mount, and tearing to mount at lower left corner. No faults affect the signatures, and many of the flaws are concentrated at the perimeter and can easily be matted out for a most impressive presentation. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.5/23/20075/23/20075/23/2007
