Study for The Royal Exchange, from Microcosm of London c. 1809

Curator: Looking at this drawing, “Study for The Royal Exchange, from Microcosm of London,” made around 1809 by Augustus Charles Pugin and housed here at the Art Institute of Chicago, what strikes you? Editor: The tentative quality of the lines! It's light and airy, almost like a fleeting impression rather than a finished drawing. The sheer volume of people suggests a bustling hub of commerce. Curator: Right. As a preparatory study rendered in pencil, we are witnessing an artist mapping out London's economic infrastructure. What is less visible here, yet central to the project it spawned, are the techniques of aquatint employed for its print form. We can observe a hierarchy in the stages of crafting the ‘Microcosm’. Editor: Interesting, a commercial process itself documented as art. But look closer at how that cityscape is organized! It’s a calculated statement of power. We are seeing a reconstruction of London as a symbolic landscape – Neoclassical architecture designed to inspire faith in trade, progress, and empire. The image projects Britain's economic confidence, regardless of the reality for the average worker at the time. Curator: Precisely! One might consider how Pugin and his publisher, Rudolph Ackermann, presented an idealized and consumable vision. Note, for example, the precise linear strokes mimicking the precision they likely encountered within these established structures. Editor: Do you think people back then really bought into this imagery? I mean, beyond the upper classes already benefiting? Curator: Imagery like this bolstered the legitimacy of trade networks and class structures already firmly in place. By literally sketching a landscape brimming with prosperity, you create and reify its cultural authority. Editor: So, by looking at this “Study," what starts as an ephemeral cityscape sketches power on many different levels, simultaneously concealing and revealing the mechanics behind urban commerce, as it reinforces established norms? A somewhat subversive take considering we tend to see it merely as document now! Curator: I concur; indeed, understanding the circumstances around this artistic material offers great insights to challenge such perceptions and unearth broader narratives surrounding the Microcosm of London and beyond.