View of the Campidoglio with the Statue of Marcus Aurelius 1762

Curator: Let's examine this work by Hubert Robert, "View of the Campidoglio with the Statue of Marcus Aurelius," dating to 1762, created using watercolor and drawing techniques. Editor: It's fascinating how he captures this scene! There's a sense of everyday life unfolding within the grand architecture. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Look at the raw materials: the paper, the pigments. Robert isn't just representing the Campidoglio; he’s engaging with a marketplace of materials, with artistic traditions that dictate how space and form can be depicted using watercolor. How does the availability of certain pigments influence the overall tone of the image? Editor: I see how the limited palette and thin washes contribute to a subdued atmosphere, a contrast to the perceived grandeur of Rome. It makes me wonder how it reflects social views of artmaking at the time. Curator: Precisely! The work exists within a social system that defines artistic value and separates high art from mere craft. Robert's method invites us to consider art as a material practice, intimately linked to its conditions of production, from the grinding of pigments to its purchase and consumption. What does it mean that it’s not an oil painting? What meanings did that specific medium have at the time it was made? Editor: It makes you consider all of the layers of value attributed to this, not just in the classical statue represented but to the choice of materials and how it was consumed in its time. Curator: Exactly, we begin to peel back these layers to view art as enmeshed in a tangible world. Editor: This really opens up how I view art. It’s about looking at art beyond just subject or style. Thanks.