Castella Gandolfo 18th-19th century

Editor: Here we have Jacob Wilhelm Mechau's "Castella Gandolfo." It feels like a stage, with the architecture as a backdrop. What story do you think this scene is trying to tell? Curator: It is interesting to consider it as a stage. Etchings like this romanticize the Italian landscape, but often exclude the labor and social inequalities that made such idyllic scenes possible. Who is allowed to enjoy this landscape, and at whose expense? Editor: So, it's about what isn't being shown? Curator: Exactly. These images shaped European fantasies of Italy, reinforcing power dynamics between the viewer and the viewed, the colonizer and the colonized. It's a landscape of privilege. Editor: I never would have considered that. It gives me a lot to think about when viewing landscapes moving forward. Curator: Indeed. By interrogating these seemingly innocent images, we can understand their role in broader systems of power.