[title not known] 1803 - 1805

Curator: Joshua Cristall, active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, created this delicate pencil sketch, part of the Tate Collections. Editor: My first thought? It feels like a whisper of a place, a quiet observation caught just before dawn. Curator: Cristall’s landscapes often explore the sublime through close studies of nature. He was part of a movement that championed direct engagement with the natural world. Editor: I see the geological formations as a metaphor for time itself, layers upon layers. Makes me wonder about Cristall's own fleeting experience in this scene. Curator: It’s interesting to consider how the art market and its institutions have historically valued finished paintings over sketches. Editor: Perhaps this sketch, so raw, so immediate, has a kind of truth that a more polished work might lose. It feels like an invitation to complete the journey ourselves.