A River Scene 

David Cox’s watercolor, A River Scene, presents a tableau dominated by the river and sky, which reflects the 19th-century fascination with nature's sublime power. The pointed spire of a church juts from the horizon amidst merchant houses, echoing a yearning for the heavens. This is a motif as old as civilization itself, an axis mundi mirrored in countless cathedrals. Think of the Tower of Babel, an archetype of human ambition and divine aspiration, or even the simple obelisk of ancient Egypt. Here, the spire is softened, less a symbol of institutional might and more a delicate reach towards the unknown. This softening might reflect the shifting religious sentiments of the era, as the grip of the church began to yield to a more personal, individualized spirituality. The artist reminds us of the ever-present desire to bridge the earthly and the divine, a symbolic journey that ebbs and flows with the currents of time.