Gezicht op Kaap Paceco in Calabrië nabij de stad Scilla 1778

Curator: There’s a hushed stillness about this piece, wouldn't you say? Almost dreamlike... Editor: Indeed. We're looking at "View of Cape Paceco in Calabria near the city of Scilla," a watercolor by Louis Ducros from 1778, currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. And my immediate sense is that it exudes Romanticism’s pensive engagement with nature, yet this feels incomplete. There's a quiet tension, or at least the anticipation of some kind of movement or revelation. Curator: Precisely! It's almost photographic, that arrested quality you mention. And, oh, to have been there with Ducros as he painted this en plein air, absorbing the landscape and its gentle color palette... It feels as if Ducros sought to trap something fleeting. Editor: Definitely a piece firmly situated in its time, reflecting the then-burgeoning fascination with nature's sublimity. But let's look closely at the laborers in their small vessel and that they are a barely visible. Who are they? What would their perspective on this romantic view be? And how might these kind of landscapes contribute to Italy’s image as this place of dreamy escapism while obscuring histories of exploitation? Curator: Ah, the thorn of inconvenient truths! Your reading disrupts the romantic veil, prompting a deeper reckoning. What if we let both perspectives coexist in our view of the painting? The delicate beauty co-mingling with historical undercurrents... Editor: Precisely the goal – not to deny beauty but to augment understanding. And there's still more to consider – class, gender, labor relations... This view of Calabria offers not only beauty, but also the potential for rich dialogues. Curator: It becomes less of a simple, soothing landscape, and more a doorway to understanding a specific historical context. The gentle watercolors belie much larger forces, a sort of painterly Trojan Horse. Editor: And so, we come full circle! Beauty contains complexities; and perhaps our active role as beholders allows for their unlocking. Curator: Right you are, the layers of meaning become an extension of our own experience of observation... beautiful.