Hotel Vittoria, Rome Possibly 1883 - 1885

Editor: So, here we have Carel Vosmaer's pencil and paper drawing, "Hotel Vittoria, Rome," likely from the mid-1880s. It has a very dreamlike, almost faded quality. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What immediately grabs my attention is the evidence of process – the layered pencil strokes building form, the subtle variations in pressure. This wasn’t about capturing a perfect likeness, but about the *doing*, the physical act of translating observation into mark-making. We can consider that this aesthetic reflects the broader Victorian obsession with "artistic" labour and even an "honesty" in the production of artworks in contrast to mass production that defined the period. Editor: That's interesting! So you're focusing less on the realism of the Roman cityscape itself and more on Vosmaer’s engagement with the materials? Curator: Precisely. Look at the paper – its texture almost competes with the drawn lines. Consider how this contributes to the piece. What paper was available to Vosmaer? How might the economic realities surrounding paper production at this time influenced the style and value of this cityscape? Editor: I see what you mean! It adds to the feeling of transience. And thinking about hotels...those are always sites of a certain amount of…labour to function as a liminal place, or service space, right? Curator: Exactly! By sketching a hotel, he isn't merely rendering a building, but also touching on a whole network of labour and materiality related to its production, its services and even its transient consumers of said spaces and related labour. Editor: That makes me think differently about cityscapes in general. I was so focused on the composition and historical architecture, but thinking about how they’re MADE is eye-opening. Curator: Yes, by appreciating how it's made, we start seeing social landscapes that made this artistic expression possible, while gaining an additional layer of its rich cultural and historical tapestry of labour! Editor: Thanks, I'll never look at a "simple" pencil drawing the same way again.