Cathedral Church of Norwich c. 19th century

Curator: This is Frederick Christian Lewis's depiction of the Cathedral Church of Norwich. Doesn't it just loom, bathed in that pale light? Almost spectral. Editor: Spectral, yes, but also deeply rooted in its material presence. Think of the quarries, the masons, the years of labor. Curator: Oh, absolutely, cathedrals *are* poems written in stone and sweat! But there's a kind of dreaminess here, a soft focus... Editor: That softness is deliberate. Aquatint allows for tonal gradations impossible with line engraving alone. It mimics the way light interacts with the porous surface of the paper. Curator: Light and shadow, definitely playing up the sublime. Makes you feel so small, doesn't it? Editor: Small, perhaps, but also connected to a lineage of craft. Curator: It's a beautiful tension, this dance between the grand design and the very human touch, don't you think? Editor: Precisely, the human hand shaping the divine space, that's what speaks to me.