Harpswell resident John McGuigan began his collection of early Roman photography as something of a side project to his work as an independent art historian. Now, more than a hundred of these photographs fill the Halford Gallery and the Bernard and Barbro Osher Gallery on the first floor of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA), representing one of the most comprehensive collections of its kind.

First opened at the BCMA on December 8, the new exhibit “In Light of Rome: Early Photography in the Capital of the Art World, 1842-1871” is the culmination of a three year collaboration between McGuigan and BCMA Co-Director Frank Goodyear.