Before Rain. Wooded Hills; Schematic Sky 

Editor: This is Alexander Cozens' "Before Rain. Wooded Hills; Schematic Sky," made sometime in the 18th century. The clouds and trees are just suggested, almost like symbols, and the grid underneath makes it look so deliberate. What do you make of this work? Curator: Indeed. Notice how the schematic sky, the grid itself, acts as a container for the potential energy held within those almost-forms. Doesn’t it remind you of cartography or even musical notation? Cozens seems to be encoding a feeling. Editor: Encoding? I guess I see how the grid almost feels like a map, but an emotional map. Curator: Precisely! We’re conditioned to read landscapes as reflections of our inner states. The grid makes that explicit here. It’s a key. Editor: Wow, I never thought about it that way. It’s like he's charting a mood. Curator: Yes, and how such a mood might presage a change, a storm perhaps.