Portret van schrijver en mecenas Alvise Corner (Luigi Cornaro) 1855 - 1865

This print of Alvise Corner was made by Francesco Clerici after a painting by Titian. Corner was a Venetian nobleman born in the 15th century, who is remembered today for his writings on diet and longevity. Prints like these played a crucial role in shaping cultural memory. Before photography, they were the primary means of circulating images and ideas. This print flattens and simplifies the original painting to make it reproducible. In doing so, it also monumentalizes Corner, transforming a local figure into a type. Prints were traded like commodities and they created a shared visual culture. But we need to remember that these images are far from neutral. They are shaped by the social and economic conditions of their production, and they, in turn, shape the way we see the world. To understand the meaning of a work like this, historians consult a variety of sources, from archival documents to contemporary publications.