Herculaneum, Pompeii 1880

Curator: Roberto Rive’s gelatin silver print, "Herculaneum, Pompeii", circa 1880, captures the stillness and sorrow of a lost city. It's a fascinating cityscape from the late 19th century currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: What strikes me immediately is the photograph's tonal range. The sepia wash lends it a distinctly nostalgic affect and, of course, an air of timelessness, given its subject matter. I'm also drawn to the lines--vertical in some places and horizontal in others. It creates an amazing composition and directs your eye into the picture plane. Curator: Indeed. Rive, working in the 19th century, was clearly responding to the expanding Grand Tour phenomenon, the surge of upper-class travelers eager to witness ancient ruins. Photography was essential in popularizing archeological sites, allowing viewers around the globe a tangible link to these lost societies. Think how significant it would be to see such detail of Pompeii, for the first time, especially if one were unable to travel. Editor: I’m struck by the emptiness. The frame is carefully considered and contains some pedestrians—visitors, I assume—yet the focus remains relentlessly on architectural form. The framing of walls against the dark slopes really makes it a unique image and composition. Curator: Right, it becomes a somber reflection on temporality, on history itself. This photograph exists, after all, because of destruction, of a singular moment of devastation that nonetheless preserved an entire urban culture. Photography offered both evidentiary detail, and a memento mori of sorts. Editor: Exactly, and there is something almost ghostly in this still image of Pompeii frozen in time; it invites meditation on both its rise and cataclysmic fall. Rive captured not just a city but also its absence, an emptiness filled with resonant historical weight. Curator: Well put. Ultimately, Rive's work presents an enduring vision. While providing a tangible link to antiquity for its viewers, it invites an exploration of what survives and how we commemorate, and ultimately mourn, civilizations of the past. Editor: A photograph then that shows us something of our place, here and now, in an unfolding, never ending cycle of civilizations rising, and civilizations declining. Thank you.