The Baths of Caracalla in Rome c. 1809 - 1812

Josephus Augustus Knip made this watercolor of The Baths of Caracalla in Rome. The Baths appear as ruins, their surfaces eroded, but still hinting at the immense labor required to produce them in the first place. The subtle gradations of pigment suggest the texture and weathering of the stone, while also giving us a sense of the scene's atmospheric conditions. The light looks heavy with moisture. Consider that the physical labor needed to construct these baths would have been intense, involving quarrying, transporting, and shaping vast quantities of stone. The social structure of ancient Rome depended upon this kind of effort, often extracted from enslaved people. Even in its ruined state, the Baths of Caracalla speak to the realities of labor and the complex interplay between materiality, process, and power.