Gezicht op Windsor Castle 1863 - 1873

Curator: There’s something melancholy about this image. Almost dreamlike. It's making me feel lost in time somehow. Editor: I feel that, the sepia tones definitely contribute to that nostalgic, distant feeling. This is a gelatin-silver print from sometime between 1863 and 1873 titled, rather simply, "Gezicht op Windsor Castle" which translates to "View of Windsor Castle". What draws you into this view? Curator: Well, it's the framing, I think. The castle perched up there, almost ethereal, beyond the trees, and the path leading the eye in but then… nowhere, really. There's a deliberate stillness about it all. And is that people sitting in the distance on the left? Editor: Good eye. They're minute, aren’t they? Rendering the grand Windsor Castle accessible, part of the community—though always perched above them, in fairness. There's definitely a power dynamic suggested through placement. It subtly echoes how wealth and power are experienced by many, simultaneously part of life, but separate, unattainable even. Curator: Ah, always the power dynamics! I like how it gives this fairytale castle this underlying message of societal structure that isn't readily apparent. What is truly apparent is the almost hazy atmospheric conditions giving this photo what feels like more mystery and awe, like how myths are passed along through memory over time and distort to what they aren't with a golden haze of nostalgia. Editor: It also challenges romantic notions, right? The technology – gelatin-silver printing – would have allowed for wider distribution and consumption of royal imagery and ideas. Almost journalistic. Who gets to see and understand power? Curator: I appreciate how a singular shot gives such rich conversation. It certainly isn't your traditional shot. I love its haziness, a sort of dreamy, bygone quality that is very romantic indeed. Thanks for helping me put into words. Editor: Of course. The landscape format invites these questions; who gets to enter and claim public space, the stories landscapes hold and what’s hidden within the landscape itself. It has certainly been illuminating.