Souvenir d'Italie c. 19th century

Editor: This is Camille Corot’s “Souvenir d'Italie,” a landscape etching held at the Harvard Art Museums. It feels both romantic and a bit melancholic to me. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This etching reflects the artistic and cultural fascination with Italy that permeated 19th-century Europe. How did artists like Corot shape the popular imagination of Italy through their art, and for what audiences? Editor: So, the image itself played a role in constructing an idea of Italy? Curator: Exactly. Corot, and other artists, presented a specific, often idealized, version of the Italian landscape, which influenced how people perceived and understood the country. Editor: That's fascinating! I never considered how much power an image could hold in shaping a culture's understanding of a place. Curator: Indeed, art serves a public function, beyond aesthetics.