The Roman Campagna, with Ponte Salario and the Confluence of the Tiber and Aniene Rivers, after J.M.W. Turner 1893

Curator: This watercolor is called The Roman Campagna, with Ponte Salario and the Confluence of the Tiber and Aniene Rivers, after J.M.W. Turner, by Denman Waldo Ross. Editor: It’s… nostalgic, maybe? It has this hazy, almost dreamlike quality, like a memory half-forgotten. Curator: Turner's influence is pretty evident; Ross was quite taken by the way Turner played with light and atmosphere. The bridge, Ponte Salario, has always symbolized connection. Editor: I get that, but the colors feel faded. Like the bridge, and the rivers meeting, are echoes of something grander, lost to time. Curator: Possibly. Or maybe it’s a recognition of enduring themes, still there, if you look close enough. Editor: Yeah, I suppose the light, in particular, lingers. Curator: It does make you ponder our connection to the past and whether we truly retain the symbols of our history. Editor: True. And what we choose to see.