Windsor Castle 1858

Gerrit Postma made this pencil drawing of Windsor Castle, seen across the River Thames, sometime in the mid-19th century. Pencil, especially in the form of a readily portable graphite stick, was essential to the rapid development of industrial capitalism. With it, draftsmen could quickly generate technical drawings. Here, though, the pencil is used to capture the essence of a place, a castle. Postma’s lines are quick, suggestive, and atmospheric. He pays careful attention to the reflections in the water, and the locomotive in the foreground. The locomotive is a symbol of technological progress of the industrial revolution. The softness of the medium allows a tonal range that would have been impossible with pen and ink, permitting Postma to capture the light and shadow on the water. It's interesting to think of graphite, a material formed of carbon atoms, used both for the creation of fine art and technical innovation. It reminds us to think across those traditional boundaries.