Agatha Christie, The Queen of Mystery

By Francesca Lungarotti “The simplest explanation is always the most likely.”  – Agatha Christie  January 12th marks the 50th anniversary since Agatha Christie’s death. The Queen of Mystery, a world-renowned crime novelist born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller in Torquay, Devon, England on September 15, 1890, was one of the most influential and prolific authors of the 20th century. The […]

Read More

Best of 2025

LOOKING BACK AT SOME OF THE GREAT IMAGES WE RECEIVED IN 2025 Over the course of a year we receive, select and process many thousands of images across a wide variety of subjects. We are privileged to work with such a fantastic range of photographers, agencies and archives. Check out our slideshows below featuring just […]

Read More

Collection Spotlight: Circa Images

UIG is privileged to represent Glasshouse Images for both their contemporary and historical archives.  Glasshouse Images, founded in New York by commercial photographer Spencer Jones, is a stock photo agency catering to a select group of creatives who are always on the look out for exceptional and distinctive imagery. Glasshouse Images’ historical archives include its Circa Images […]

Read More

250 Years of Jane Austen

By Francesca Lungarotti December 16th marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of one of the most brilliant and emancipated English writers of all time: Jane Austen. Born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, a small village in Hampshire, Jane, the second oldest of eight children, spent her childhood and youth here inspiringly. Her father, […]

Read More

The Mysterious and Scary Krampus

By Francesca Lungarotti During November and December each year Krampus parades and festivals are enjoyed across the countries of Europe’s eastern Alpine arc.  These cultural events take place in Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland, Slovenia, and two Italian regions, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia, and some parades are also held in Veneto. The word Krampus is derived […]

Read More

Centre Pompidou 1976

By Francesca Lungarotti Vintage photography is a true source of knowledge and a means, or a “window into the past,” to experience places as they once were and learn how they were created. No artificial intelligence will ever be able to restore the authenticity of photos that tell stories of recent history by capturing the […]

Read More

Art for the Spooky Season

By Francesca Lungarotti Art has long supported themes of the macabre, supernatural, death, hell and fear. Many famous artists conceptualized and illustrated the various facets of the ‘terrifying’, the ‘disturbing’, the ‘fear’ and the ‘horror’.  Francisco Goya and his black figures, Edward Munch and the fear of the inexplicable that is also in oneself, William Blake’s illustrations […]

Read More

Autumn

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower” – Albert Camus The temperatures begin to chill.  The leaves crumble to the ground and trees are left bare. Still, Autumn remains a favorite time for many in the northern hemisphere.  Indeed, Americans in particular chose autumn overwhelmingly as their favorite season in a 2023 survey […]

Read More

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War

October 3, 2025, will mark 90 years since Italy invaded Ethiopia.  The second Italo-Ethiopian War that followed lasted until May, 1936 and resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. Benito Mussolini, Italy’s fascist dictator, sought vengeance from Italy’s humiliating defeat in Ethiopia forty years earlier.  More importantly, Ethiopia provided Italy a critical link between its other East African territories – […]

Read More

Secret Destinations – The World’s Rock Towns

By Francesca Lungarotti Imagine living inside of a rock, within an ancient city built inside or beneath rocks.  Present-day and ancient inhabitants of Vardzia (Georgia), Petra (Jordan), Matmata (Tunisia), Mesa Verde (USA) Kandovan (Iran), Ajanta (India) and Cappadocia (Turkey) share this experience, living in cities built on rock, or even dug into it.  These are some of […]

Read More