Saint Mark's, No. 2 1900

David Young Cameron made this etching of Saint Mark’s Basilica, in Venice. The basilica, an important site of Venetian history, is here represented through its architectural interior. Note how Cameron positions the viewer off-center, perhaps to emphasize the scale of the rose window above the altar, drawing our eye upwards. Cameron was British, and so not Venetian, therefore, his work does not capture a sense of Venetian life so much as it documents the appeal of Venice to outsiders. As a popular tourist destination Venice’s economy depends on the maintenance of its cultural image. Cameron’s etching then, participates in a cultural economy that reinforces the iconic status of Venice. The Basilica is therefore depicted less as a site of Venetian history than as a monument for the international tourist trade. Art historians draw on a range of social, economic and cultural histories to interpret art works, in order to understand the values that determine their status.