Coastal Landscape with Gothick Buildings and Promenades 

Curator: Susanna Duncombe's miniature, "Coastal Landscape with Gothick Buildings and Promenades", presents us with a fantastical seaside scene. Editor: It's immediately evocative. The Gothick architecture triggers a romantic, slightly melancholic feeling, like a dream of ruins. Curator: Duncombe was working within a very specific visual culture. We see a fascination with the picturesque, but also the labor involved in creating these promenade spaces. Editor: The figures seem almost dwarfed by the architecture. Are they meant to evoke a sense of pilgrimage or perhaps the sublime? Curator: It's interesting to consider the social context; who was consuming these images and what desires were being projected onto these coastal spaces? Editor: The symbols are certainly multilayered, playing with notions of leisure, architectural fantasy, and perhaps even a yearning for a lost past. Curator: Exactly, and thinking about Duncombe's process – the delicate application of pigment on such a small scale – reveals her technical skill and artistic intention. Editor: It’s a reminder of how images, regardless of size, can carry such significant cultural weight. Curator: Absolutely. Reflecting on the materials and the social landscape gives us a richer understanding of the artist's intention.