Castilla View 

John Michael Carter painted this view of Castilla with oils on canvas. The perspective draws our eye along a narrow street in this region of Spain, defined by the architecture of tall buildings on either side. Carter here consciously evokes a long tradition of Western urban landscape painting. But the choice of subject also situates this work within a more specific cultural and institutional history. The distinctive architecture tells us that this painting records a very particular place. With its imposing civic and religious buildings, Castilla was for centuries at the heart of Spanish political power. Carter, in choosing to paint this view, knowingly engages with this history. But how does he do so? He is working within a well-established tradition, but also offering his own commentary on that tradition, and on the place he depicts. The cultural historian will seek to better understand the painting by consulting historical sources of various kinds. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.