Church of the Holy Cross at St. Lo 1822

Curator: John Sell Cotman, who lived from 1782 to 1842, created this drawing, "Church of the Holy Cross at St. Lo," now held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It’s like a stage set, isn’t it? The doorway looks monumental, but somehow also temporary, like you could just dismantle it after the play. Curator: Cotman was part of a circle that valued accurate representations of architecture. There's a real sense of documenting the details of this church. Editor: The details are lovely, all those zigzag moldings. But I keep wondering about the shadows; the play of light implies there’s so much more outside the frame. Curator: This church in Saint-Lo would have been a familiar landmark. Consider how this image might have helped shape understandings of French architecture in England. Editor: Or maybe, it's Cotman inviting us to imagine our own stories behind that heavy wooden door. A journey started, a secret kept? Curator: A nice sentiment, and it reveals the tensions between historical record and imaginative possibilities. Editor: Precisely. Art, like life, offers a multiplicity of visions.