The State Opening of Parliament in the Rebuilt House of Lords 1847

Joseph Nash captured The State Opening of Parliament in the Rebuilt House of Lords with watercolor on paper. Nash completed much of his artistic work in the aftermath of the fire which destroyed much of the Palace of Westminster in 1834. Nash's watercolor invites us to consider the symbolism embedded in this space. The architecture becomes a stage for political theater, where the elite classes perform their roles in governance. The artist does not include a date, and this absence suggests a timelessness to the traditions and rituals of British governance. Consider who is absent from this assembly. The working classes, the colonized, women—their voices are not represented in this space. The architecture reinforces a social hierarchy, a visual echo of the power dynamics at play. Nash's skill lies in capturing the grandeur of the architecture, but also in revealing the subtle ways in which power is performed and reinforced. It’s a visual reminder of the stories that are told, and whose stories are left out.