2. Tombs in the Campo Elisio 1778 - 1779

Editor: This is John Warwick Smith's "Tombs in the Campo Elisio". It is a watercolor piece, and it strikes me as rather romantic. What do you make of it? Curator: The ruins themselves are potent symbols. Overgrown with vegetation, they speak to the cyclical nature of life, the inevitable decay that follows even the grandest achievements. Editor: So, it's less about literal tombs and more about the idea of time passing? Curator: Precisely. And consider the riders in the distance, dwarfed by the scale of the ruins. What might they represent? Editor: Perhaps our own fleeting existence against the backdrop of history. Curator: Exactly. A journey through time, rendered in watercolor. Editor: I'm definitely seeing it differently now. Thanks!