Buildings and Trees near an Iron Foundry at Swansea c. 1786 - 1800

Curator: This small sepia drawing is by Philip James De Loutherbourg; it's titled, "Buildings and Trees near an Iron Foundry at Swansea." Editor: I'm immediately struck by its almost dreamlike quality. The lines are so delicate and the wash is soft. It feels like a memory. Curator: Indeed. Loutherbourg, though renowned for his dramatic landscapes, captures something far more intimate here. We might consider the burgeoning industrial revolution, and how it imposed on the landscape. Editor: Precisely. The foundry, though unnamed, is central to this landscape. One wonders whose landscape it is, though? Who gets to call it “home?” Curator: A valid question. The drawing feels like a whispered elegy for a pastoral past, even as it acknowledges industrial change. Editor: These questions of land, labor, and legacy are all so beautifully and quietly present, aren’t they?