Veduta di Campo Vaccina 1640 - 1660

Curator: This is Israel Silvestre's "Veduta di Campo Vaccina," an etching dating from between 1640 and 1660, depicting the Roman Forum. What's your immediate response to it? Editor: Bleak, but intriguing. There’s a sparseness to the etching technique itself which mirrors the desolation of the ruins depicted. It gives me a sense of the labor, I think, both to build these ancient monuments and to engrave their ruins later. Curator: Absolutely, and that bleakness, as you put it, is fascinating. We see these Roman ruins repurposed as a cow pasture, a 'campo vaccina'. It highlights the displacement of historical significance by everyday practicalities. The politics of space, if you will. How Rome has been used and reused across time. Editor: And Silvestre is deliberately showing us the 'making' and 'unmaking' simultaneously, I feel. Look at the etching—the dense, deliberate lines defining the structural decay and those three standing columns—those suggest time’s heavy hand and labor lost, turned to ruin. Curator: Precisely. The architectural details and perspective are meticulously rendered, yet the overarching impression is of abandonment and transition. We must also think of Silvestre’s intended audience, usually wealthy northern European tourists. These prints brought a piece of Rome back home, filtered through a specific, constructed gaze. Editor: Ah, so commodification even then! And thinking about it, the physical process of etching – the acid, the metal plate, the press – allowed for reproduction and wider distribution of this ‘Roman experience.' This makes it much more than just a picturesque scene. Curator: Exactly! It embodies the burgeoning tourism industry of the period, revealing how Rome and its past became consumable commodities, carefully curated through prints like this. These prints helped solidify a certain idea, or myth, of Rome, packaged for a specific audience, influencing perceptions for centuries to come. Editor: That’s given me so much more to consider about how labor shapes meaning – both in the image, and the production and consumption around it. Curator: Agreed. By unpacking the image's context, we can begin to challenge the assumed narratives and unveil power structures.