Frascati, Near Rome 1819

William Cowen captured Frascati, near Rome, using watercolor and graphite on paper, during a time when landscape art served not just as aesthetic pleasure, but as a window into the cultural and political sentiments of the era. Cowen, positioned within the British artistic tradition, depicts an Italian town, reflecting the romanticized vision of Italy as a cradle of civilization and a place of idyllic beauty. Yet, this depiction is also a product of its time, shaped by the dynamics of colonialism and cultural appropriation, where the gaze of the Western artist often exoticized and idealized foreign lands. The watercolor evokes a sense of longing for a simpler, perhaps imagined, past. It invites us to consider the layers of history and power embedded in landscape art and the way these images shaped perceptions of different cultures and places.