Gezicht op de Engelenbrug te Rome 1859 - 1891

Elias Stark created this print of the Ponte Sant'Angelo in Rome, but the date of production is unknown. Stark gives us a worm's eye view of this iconic bridge which crosses the River Tiber, with the Castel Sant'Angelo on the right. In terms of social history, images of the Ponte Sant'Angelo were often commissioned by wealthy tourists as souvenirs. The bridge links central Rome with the Vatican, so images of the bridge can be interpreted as an expression of reverence to Catholicism. The bridge has a long and fraught institutional history, as it was built in antiquity by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. However, it has been used as a site for public executions, and more recently has been pedestrianized in an effort to promote tourism. To interpret this print, we would need to know more about the social conditions in which it was made. In which circles was Stark moving? For whom did he create this print, and how did they view Rome?