Windsor Castle 18th-19th century

Curator: This is Thomas Girtin’s "Windsor Castle," a pencil sketch residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It appears so faint, a delicate ghost of a landscape. It makes me think about power structures and their impermanence. Curator: Notice how Girtin uses line to create depth, the variation suggesting both solidity and atmospheric perspective. The castle looms, yet it's rendered with such lightness. Editor: But what does Windsor represent? It's not just architecture; it's a symbol of monarchy, colonialism, and class division—histories etched into the land itself. Curator: Indeed, yet Girtin’s subtle rendering allows us to consider it formally, to study his technique. The balance, the composition. Editor: But by ignoring the historical weight, aren't we complicit in erasing the lived realities of those impacted by Windsor’s legacy? Curator: Perhaps. It’s a difficult dialogue, art. Editor: Precisely. It invites reflection, and action.