Venice_ View of the Canal Grande and Santa Maria della Salute from the Ponte della Carità c. 1860 - 1870

Curator: Let’s spend a moment with this captivating image of Venice. It's a photograph entitled "Venice, View of the Canal Grande and Santa Maria della Salute from the Ponte della Carità," captured circa 1860-1870 by Giorgio Sommer. It is an albumen print, currently residing here at the Städel Museum. Editor: It's incredibly serene. The tonal range achieved through the albumen print process gives it such a soft, almost melancholic mood. It speaks to a romanticised, almost depopulated version of Venice, removed from the chaos of contemporary tourism. Curator: Sommer’s perspective is important. These were times of great change in Italy, as the Risorgimento reshaped national identity and the political landscape. The representation of Venice, a city laden with historical significance, becomes incredibly meaningful. Think about who had access to create, consume, and distribute such images. Editor: Absolutely. The composition itself is carefully constructed to reinforce power dynamics. The grand architecture lines the canal as a reminder of historical Venetian authority and control. I am particularly curious to understand who commissioned these kinds of images and how they used them. Were they souvenirs? Were they political tools, creating nostalgia? Curator: Likely both, and more. This photograph would have been distributed widely to an upper and middle-class audience that was travelling or had aspirations of traveling. Beyond simply depicting beauty, images such as these would contribute to constructing an idea of Italian cultural superiority during this turbulent period of nation-building. The details of the image also bear remembering: note the presence, or perhaps pointed absence, of gondoliers who propelled Venice's commerce and communications and who have been strategically left out, shifting the focus from labor to leisure. Editor: It definitely forces us to confront how beauty and history can be manipulated and molded. We need to understand how visual culture creates these mythologies of nations. Sommer has given us an important visual document that is charged with class and political aspirations, far removed from our contemporary context. Curator: Indeed, grappling with these complexities allows us to interpret and appreciate Sommer's work more completely. We recognize that this seemingly idyllic vista served purposes far beyond simple visual pleasure.