["St Mark's square and doge's palace", 'General view'] before 1886

Curator: This photograph, capturing "St Mark's Square and Doge's Palace," offers us a glimpse into Venice before 1886 through the lens of an anonymous photographer. It's presented as a gelatin-silver print. Editor: It immediately strikes me as ghostly, almost dreamlike. The tonality is soft, bordering on blurry, and the entire scene seems to exist in a hazy past. Curator: That hazy quality is key to understanding pictorialism, a style prominent in early photography. It sought to elevate photography to fine art by emulating painting, often through soft focus and manipulating the printing process. We can consider the social desire of photographers of that era to mimic the painting practices that were already regarded as high art forms. Editor: Absolutely. Looking closer, you notice how the Doge's Palace seems to float, less grounded in its materiality. The softness probably required intense labour time spent manipulating a photo negative. And in turn, these photographs were certainly luxury goods. Curator: That resonates. Consider St. Mark’s bell tower—its sharp verticality against the ethereal sky reinforces a Romantic vision of Venice, blending reality with an almost mythical quality. This image of Venice offers both a document of record and also this artist’s rendering of cultural memory. Editor: For sure, and to me, the image also invites a discussion of photographic processes, too. You have to admire the craft while interrogating it. How does the romanticism get created from the gelatine, silver, and all the laboring hands it took to manifest? Curator: It invites a deep contemplation on Venice as an iconic site, a place already heavy with its own symbols even then. It highlights the city's cultural endurance and its power to inspire such reverie. Editor: This photograph invites us to consider not just *what* we're seeing, but *how* we are seeing it, as material and message blend. A lovely perspective into Venice from the past!