A Young Woman in Profile 1750s

Giovanni Marco Pitteri made this print of a young woman, but the date remains unknown. The image is a portrait, a genre that tells us a great deal about the status of both artist and sitter. The art market in 18th-century Europe saw a growing demand for portraiture as the middle classes accumulated wealth and sought ways to publicly display their status and taste. Printmaking helped democratize art, making images more widely accessible and creating new opportunities for artists. Pitteri worked in Venice during a period when the city was in decline, a shadow of its former political and economic power. Printmakers often relied on patronage from wealthy individuals or institutions. Further research into Pitteri's career and the social context of Venice at the time may reveal the complex institutional and economic factors that enabled the creation and circulation of images like this one.