Rome from the Pincio 

Editor: This is Enrico Nardi’s watercolor painting, "Rome from the Pincio." I am immediately struck by its peaceful atmosphere. It feels like looking at a memory, almost faded but still incredibly beautiful. The dome in the background… it looms. What do you make of it? Curator: Faded memory... I love that. Yes, Nardi captures that ephemeral quality of light so well with watercolors, doesn't he? And that dome – St. Peter's, of course. But it is the quiet perspective he creates for us here, isn’t it? From a park, through a tree. What sort of feeling does that give you? Almost… intimacy? Editor: Intimacy is spot on. It’s not just a postcard view. There’s almost a reluctance, as though we are only meant to get this furtive look at the majestic skyline. Almost like Nardi himself might not think he has earned it! Why place the foliage and fountain so prominently? Curator: Exactly! He invites us to notice the ordinary within the extraordinary, the transient amidst the timeless. That foreground framing... is it a veil? An embrace? Watercolors have a unique ability to make monuments whisper instead of shout. Are we peeking into his mind maybe? Do we all contain our personal "Rome"? Editor: That’s a stunning thought. It’s no longer just Rome, but someone's Rome. I wonder what the sounds would have been as Nardi composed the painting? Curator: Can’t you just hear it? Fountains burbling, carriages echoing softly… And that's the painting’s power: a timeless feeling for what can otherwise only be found by sifting the memories. We build up the sense of a city with many sense-impressions accumulated over a lifetime, don't we?