Plate LXIII 18th-19th century

Editor: This is Jacques-Francois-Joseph Swebach’s "Plate LXIII," housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s a line drawing, a flurry of frantic energy! What do you make of all this commotion? Curator: Ah, Swebach! He captures the delightful chaos of everyday life with such a whimsical hand. Imagine the sound – the clatter of hooves, the driver’s shouts, perhaps a lost hat tumbling across the road? Editor: So, it’s not necessarily a disaster unfolding? Curator: Maybe a minor mishap, a momentary loss of control. But isn’t that where the beauty lies? Swebach reminds us that life is rarely a perfectly smooth journey. It’s the bumps along the way that make it interesting, don't you think?