View of Saint Peter's from the Palace of the Caesars, with Circus Maximus Below n.d.

Curator: Look at this Richard Wilson drawing, simply titled, "View of Saint Peter's from the Palace of the Caesars, with Circus Maximus Below." What's your immediate take? Editor: Pale. Anemic, even. But like, in an intriguing way? There's something quite fragile and understated in the sketch, like a ghost of Rome hovering there on the page. Curator: Ghostly is apt, given what we're seeing—layered history etched in pencil. The Caesars, the Circus Maximus, and then the dominating presence of St. Peter's...it's a condensed timeline of power, each layer built, literally and metaphorically, upon the last. Editor: Right, but let’s talk about the literal labor involved in *seeing* that. Look how lightly he's applied the pencil. I wonder how much preparatory work informed this sketch. And then thinking about paper itself at the time...its availability, its cost... it all becomes part of the narrative. Curator: Always material, you are! And important points all. I wonder if Wilson aimed for this almost ethereal quality? Or perhaps it's time softening the pencil lines. But still, there’s something evocative in its sparseness; it almost allows one to fill in the missing grandeur from memory and imagination. It reminds me a bit of Piranesi’s etchings, this blend of topographical precision and theatricality. Editor: The contrast fascinates me –the very solid Papal structure rendered in such light strokes. Like power held in provisional form, maybe? What I love is thinking about Wilson hauling paper, pencils…perhaps charcoal?…up to the Palatine, facing the constant breeze…all those tactile negotiations of labor and site influencing his gaze. It's so easy to overlook the sheer, gritty process! Curator: Well, the result is this quiet moment captured across millennia. I look at it and hear the echoes – chariot races, hymns, the whispering conspiracies of emperors and popes, all somehow suspended on a single sheet of paper. Editor: For me, it sparks thoughts of materiality. This is how empire *feels*, seen through the grain of the paper, the pressure of the pencil…It becomes a conversation about production itself, who holds power in making images, building cities… Curator: Absolutely, it all funnels down to how we engage. For me it whispers with memories.