Gezicht op het Sint-Pietersplein in Vaticaanstad met een fontein c. 1850 - 1880

This albumen print captures the famous St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City, with one of its fountains in full flow. The photographer, Lorenzo Suscipi, operated his studio in Rome. Consider what this image would have meant to its original viewers. It would likely have been purchased as a souvenir by tourists visiting Rome, and used to show those back home that they had seen the heart of the Catholic world. Photography in the 19th century was rapidly changing from an elite pursuit to a mainstream activity and photographic images like these were sold to tourists in their thousands, offering an easily accessible and reproducible image of Rome that would both represent and consolidate their experiences. To understand the photograph fully, we might research the history of tourism to Rome in the 19th century, and the rise of photography as a commercial activity. The meaning of art is always dependent on its social context.