Mt. Vesuvius, Bay of Naples, Italy 19th-20th century

Curator: Looking at Denman Waldo Ross's "Mt. Vesuvius, Bay of Naples, Italy," I'm immediately struck by its ethereal quality. It’s a scene rendered in soft blues, almost dreamlike. Editor: Absolutely. This watercolor captures Vesuvius as both a geographical and cultural icon, especially as that steamship hints at burgeoning tourism and our changing relationship with nature in the late 19th, early 20th century. Curator: The volcano looms large, but the almost monochrome palette diminishes any real sense of threat. Instead, it feels romanticized. I see echoes of the sublime, a confrontation with nature mediated by aesthetic beauty and colonial gazes. Editor: I agree. By then, Vesuvius was less a symbol of raw power and more a stop on the Grand Tour, packaged for consumption. Ross's wispy rendering reinforces that distancing. Curator: It makes me wonder who the intended audience was and how this landscape was used to reflect power dynamics. Editor: Indeed. It's a muted vision, but filled with complex social histories.