Sketch for King John, from King John 

Curator: The weight of power… you can almost feel it in this sketch of King John by Edwin Austin Abbey. Drawn with pencil, it’s just lines on paper, yet it conveys so much. What's your immediate reaction? Editor: Heavy. I’m struck by how incredibly heavy it all seems—the king's garments, the throne itself, even the very air around him, choked by the dark shading. You sense the labor not just in the depiction, but imagine all the labour producing his heavy velvet cloak... It whispers "burden." Curator: Yes! It feels as though John is quite literally sinking under the crown. Look at his face – etched with weariness and maybe a hint of paranoia? He almost melts into that monumental throne. Do you feel he possesses his regalia, or is he possessed by it? Editor: That robe – it appears less like protection and more like the fabric itself holds the man hostage. You have to consider the economics of such rich material as velvet—the sheer number of laborers involved, dyers, weavers and tailors... who truly benefits from this charade of power? Curator: Ah, you see the textile chain of sorrow woven into every thread! I can imagine Abbey in his studio, thinking of those anonymous hands involved in John’s pomp, feeling perhaps some empathy for this infamous king, crushed as he was by history… by the materials and systems that elevated him, only to isolate him in that chair. Editor: Isolated and, in a way, crafted, created through a confluence of material conditions, the product of globalized trade. I am mostly concerned that it may still occur in different formats, but with the same tragic dynamic. Curator: But despite its melancholic quality, there’s also a stark beauty, isn’t there? The detail in the sketching, the way light and shadow dance on the fabric… even sorrow, it seems, can have its own strange magnificence. And I love the sketched Lions overhead almost taunting him Editor: And the beauty—let's acknowledge the material and the skill in its making; the very pencil and paper had to be fabricated somewhere by someone… Every artwork conceals those complex backstories within its aesthetic appeal. Curator: A perfect reminder to reflect upon the complex intertwining stories – of kings, of craftspeople, of the materials themselves that come together to create a picture and a history of power and its price. Editor: It is a poignant visual essay, then, exposing the mechanisms of that power – that, centuries later, speaks profoundly about our material present.