Westmorland Hills, Bordering the Ken 

Editor: So, this is Peter De Wint's "Westmorland Hills, Bordering the Ken," watercolor. I’m really drawn to the golden hues of the harvested field. What's your take on this piece? Curator: Consider the labor involved in creating this scene. De Wint captures the final stage of agricultural production; how does the materiality of the watercolor—the paper, the pigments—relate to the materiality of the harvest? Editor: That's a good point. Is he idealizing rural labor, or showing the reality of it? Curator: Perhaps both. The very act of depicting it elevates the ordinary. De Wint’s choices in representing this landscape, the selective detail, transform it into a commodity for consumption. Interesting, isn’t it? Editor: Very thought-provoking. I'll definitely look at landscapes differently now.