Time Seated on Clouds, Flanked by Two Other Angels n.d.

Curator: This drawing, housed here at the Art Institute of Chicago, is titled "Time Seated on Clouds, Flanked by Two Other Angels" by Giulio Romano. It was rendered using chalk, pencil, and other drawing media on paper. Editor: What strikes me is how grounded it feels, despite the subject matter. There’s a heaviness to the figures, the palpable weight of sorrow perhaps, and the materiality really reinforces that. It’s not some ethereal vision; it’s laborious and weighted. Curator: It certainly feels somber. There's a deep pensiveness etched onto the figure representing Time. To me, it’s less about labor and more about the intimate reflection, the feeling that even celestial beings are burdened by time's passage. Editor: But even the representation of reflection has a labor to it. Look at the very visible strokes of chalk and pencil, the clear evidence of the artist’s hand moving across the paper. The drawing shows labor – the act of pondering visually rendered. And consider what kind of paper this is; the consumption of resources… Curator: Yes, the process is visible; it adds to the drama. You feel the artist wrestling with the concept, each stroke a physical manifestation of an internal struggle. And I suppose paper as material grounds that vision even further, allowing something ephemeral to take solid shape. Editor: Exactly! Paper wasn't, and isn’t, neutral! Someone had to make it, which means resources, a certain kind of manufacturing. Also I notice, look how the light falls, mimicking volume! That’s time at work, in a drawing… a drawing *about* time. It’s almost dizzying. Curator: Indeed. And even more dizzying is pondering the "other angels" flanking time, with one offering what appears to be an empty plate. What kind of offering, and sacrifice does time demand? Editor: Or *who* is demanding… The labor behind power structures, that’s where the image pulls me: who consumes and who produces, then as now? Curator: A very materialist reading of heavenly affairs, my friend. But it brings "Time Seated on Clouds" down to earth – pun intended – offering us a framework to reflect on the very human dimensions within the divine. Editor: And ultimately, that connection to human labor makes these antique images relevant today. What, after all, are we creating *now*, and for whom?