Landscape, Rome, Italy 19th-20th century

Editor: This is Denman Waldo Ross's watercolor, "Landscape, Rome, Italy," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It feels so serene, but also a bit distant, like I'm observing from afar. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a commentary on power and perspective. Ross paints Rome, a city laden with history, but from a removed vantage point. Consider who traditionally had access to these views, who was afforded the leisure to contemplate such landscapes. Is this an intentional act? Editor: So you're saying the landscape itself becomes a symbol of privilege? Curator: Exactly. And the figures in the landscape—are they tourists, pilgrims, locals? Ross invites us to consider their relationships to this space, to the power it represents. What do you think? Editor: That adds a whole new layer. I was just seeing a pretty scene, but now I'm thinking about who gets to *see* the pretty scene and what that means. Curator: Precisely! Art often reflects unspoken societal structures.