The Aqueduct of Morro Velho, Brazil 1873

Editor: This is Marianne North's "The Aqueduct of Morro Velho, Brazil" painted in 1873 with oils. It feels so layered – I'm initially drawn to the plant and birdlife upfront, and then I notice the sweeping landscape. What stands out to you the most in this painting? Curator: Oh, Marianne! Her paintings are such beautiful whispers of another world, aren't they? For me, it’s the way she so confidently positions these very different scales and perspectives right on top of each other, the botanical study becoming the foreground for this sprawling vista. I mean, have you ever stood somewhere and felt the bigness of the landscape swallow you whole? Editor: I know what you mean, totally! So the framing, you think it captures that feeling? Curator: Exactly. Notice the framing with the banana flower and the vines and hummingbirds? That contrast suggests the human desire to capture and classify the natural world, juxtaposed with the sheer, untamable wildness beyond. Almost a meditation on the sublime. Don’t you think there’s a bit of that Romantic sensibility lingering? Editor: Yes! Like nature’s abundance, but also its untamed spirit, is somehow bursting through. What do you think North wanted viewers of the time to think or feel when viewing a work like this? Curator: Well, Britain, at the time, had this fascination, a consuming curiosity about exotic locales, but these expeditions weren’t always just for discovery. Paintings like this served as both documentation and…almost a way to possess a landscape. But looking at North’s oeuvre, you see a profound respect, even love. Editor: It’s funny how much history can be folded into a single image. I think I see this painting differently now. Curator: Isn't it great? Paintings are little time machines, really. They bring you back to a feeling.