Mädchen an einem Fenster zum Markusplatz, Tauben fütternd 1875

Anton Romako painted ‘Girl at a Window on the Piazza San Marco, Feeding Pigeons’ during the latter half of the 19th century. Here, we see a fashionable young woman offering food to pigeons. Behind her, we see the famous Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy, a popular destination for tourists, even at the time. The woman’s upward gaze is important. Is she looking at the birds, or is she dreaming of something else? Does the artist use the woman as a stand-in for Venice itself, a beautiful city that, to some, was being overrun by tourists? To fully appreciate the painting, one needs to know the culture and history of Venice, as well as the social position of women at the time. Contemporary guidebooks and travel writing can help contextualize the artist’s own experience of the city. Ultimately, art history is always a work in progress.