In 1908 at the end of complex negotiations the Italian State acquired the Barberini collection of Palestrina antiquities from the Florentine antiquarian Elia Volpi, placing it in the Museo di Villa Giulia in Rome. The Alinari firm dedicated a series of 28 photographs to the Barberini antiquities, which were published in 1911 in their commercial catalogue on Rome’s galleries and museums. Twenty–seven copies of this publication have been found in the Volpi antiquarian photo archives. Another important campaign of photography dedicated to these objects was made by Carlo Carboni of the Gabinetto Fotografico to illustrate a publication by the scholar Alessandro Della Seta that appeared in 1909 in the Bollettino d’Arte del Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. The two photographic series offer quite dissimilar interpretations of the objects. In the present essay the author presents a comparison between the two photographic campaigns and their differing analytic and interpretive methodologies. Moreover, making use of largely unpublished documents, she aims to reconstruct the complex and multilayered circumstances behind the purchase of the Barberini archaeological finds and to formulate several hypotheses regarding the patronage and the correct dating of the Alinari photographic series.