Watch 1830 - 1865

This silver watch was made by the firm of Girard and Bornand, sometime in the 1800's. The watch is a marvelous example of the nineteenth-century phenomenon of the souvenir. Tourism in the 1800s was booming, especially among the middle classes. A memento of this kind spoke to the increasing democratization of travel, while remaining firmly within the grasp of those with sufficient disposable income. The image on the watch appears to be a picturesque view of a town at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, Italy. The rise of tourism in the nineteenth century led to the large scale industrialization of certain regions, while simultaneously commodifying local traditions, and opening up the way for the international art market as we know it today. Understanding the complex relationship between tourism, capitalism, and the art market requires historians to draw on a wide range of resources, from travel journals to economic data. The story of art is always contingent on social and institutional context.