In a quiet courtyard behind Calle Longa, above the main door of a brick palazzo, a plaque from the City of Venice reads: ’IN THIS HOUSE / ON 10 FEBRUARY 1791 / WAS BORN / FRANCESCO HAYEZ / PAINTER / THE MUNICIPALITY / P.’ — the final P stands for pose, ’placed’. Here, in the popular heart of Santa Croce, was born the painter who would become the leading figure of Italian Romanticism.