A piè del monte Catillo (At the foot of Mt. Catillo, called the Mount of the Cross, at Tivoli 1793

Editor: This is Albert Christoph Dies' "A piè del monte Catillo," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It's wonderfully detailed, almost dreamlike. What leaps out at you when you look at it? Curator: It whispers of a romantic longing for simpler times, doesn't it? The flowing water, the craggy rocks...it’s a carefully constructed scene, almost theatrical. What do you suppose he wanted us to feel? Editor: A sense of peace, perhaps? Though there's a touch of melancholy too. Curator: Maybe it’s the black and white medium. It adds a layer of distance, a sense of looking back. Editor: I see that. It’s as if we're observing a memory. Thanks, that helped me to see the picture in a whole new light! Curator: And thanks to you, I feel as though I’ve rediscovered it myself.