Gezicht op de Canal Grande in Venetië 1848 - 1923

Justin Gabriel made this etching of the Canal Grande in Venice sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Here we see an image of Venice, a city which, by this time, had become a popular tourist destination. The gondola was a common method of transport in the city but, as we see here, it also became a popular element in images produced for the tourist trade. Notice how the artist has created this image. It is an etching, a printmaking technique that allowed for the mass production of images, and thus it was perfect for the tourist trade. The composition is carefully arranged to include iconic elements of Venice, like the dome of a church, the grand buildings, and of course, the gondolas themselves. Studying prints like this can tell us a lot about the rise of tourism and the commercialization of Venice as a cultural icon. We can use tourist guides, postcards, and other ephemera from the period to learn more about this phenomenon.