View of Tivoli c. 18th century

Editor: So, this is François Nicolas Barthélemy Dequevauviller's "View of Tivoli," held at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a striking image, very detailed, almost dreamlike. What do you see in this piece, beyond the obvious landscape? Curator: I see a commentary on labor and its relationship to the land. Look at the figures. How many are laborers versus those who seem to be observing or perhaps even exploiting their work? It prompts questions about class and access to resources. What do you think? Editor: I hadn't considered that. I was mainly drawn to the composition, but seeing it through that lens makes it more powerful, a bit unsettling. Curator: Exactly. It's a view, yes, but whose view? The artist’s, certainly, but also perhaps the elite patrons who commissioned and consumed such images, reinforcing their own positions of power. Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't fully appreciated. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. Art invites these questions and multiple readings.