There is little known in detail about the life of Jianozi such as what has been his origin, when he started photography, how many children he had, and whether his descendants followed his way or not. but all these do not seem very important against the value of photos that he has taken from different cities of the country. From Shahrud and Damghan to Tus and finally from the Razavi holy shrine.
His name is Antonio Jianozi from Napoli, Italy who years ago was teaching in the Nezam Iran School at the time Naser al-Din Shah Qajar’s reign. There is no exact information from his life but it is certain that he had been an artist Italian who excited by any scenery, used his old comrade, his camera, to take pictures in any time or any place to make eternal the scenery.
He didn’t lived even to the age of 60 but the effect of his particular and eloquent view can be seen through old photo albums in the museum of different countries; museums such as Gulestan Castel (Kakh-e Gulestan) and the museum of history of Astan Quds Razavi.
There is little known in detail about his life such as what has been his origin, when he started photography, how many children he had, and whether his descendants followed their way or not. but all these do not seem very important against the value of photos that he has taken from different cities of the country. From Shahrud and Damghan to Tus and finally from the Razavi holy shrine.
Photographic masterpieces of Jianozi taken from the Razavi holy shrine has attached his name to the history of photographers of Iran. It gains more importance when we know that the first photos of the holy shrine are the photos of the dome and its related structures.
Aqa Reza the Photographer, the special photographer of the king who travelled to different cities by his order to take photos from spectacularbuildings and places has passed by Khurasan and Tus seven years after Jianozi took his beautiful photos from the holy shrine.
Therefore, the photos of Jianozi from the holy shrine of Imam Reza (A.S.), the Gowharshad Mosque, the mausoleum of PirPalanduz, Musalla Mosque, etc., are known as the first historical photos of these religious places.
A remarkable point in his photos is his artistic view in adjusting the camera angle and his focus on pictorial documentation of cities and buildings and using people in his photos in most of his works for displaying the scale of the monument to the observer of the photo.
Jianuzi presented a full album of his beautiful photos framed by colorful cardboards to the king who was so interested in photography. One year ago Luigi Pesce, the officer of Dar al-Funun School had also presented his collection of Takht-e Jamshid photos to the court. Hence, the photo album of Jianozi remains in the list of the eternal works of Gulestan museum so that the grandeur of the eighth Imam could find sense after long years by an Italian man and the high position of this kind Imam would be transferred through generations.
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