Peacock at Capel Curig c. 1840s

Editor: This is David Cox's pencil drawing "Peacock at Capel Curig," from around the 1840s. It’s quite simple, really, but I'm curious about the choice of subject – a peacock! Why not a cow, or sheep, something more typical for a landscape? What do you see here? Curator: I see a direct engagement with materiality and its relation to class and accessibility. Consider pencil as a medium. It’s relatively inexpensive and portable. Was Cox interested in the labor involved in more traditionally "high art" forms, and choosing a readily available and cheaper media? What does that suggest about his artistic values and the intended audience? Editor: That's interesting. So, the very act of choosing pencil elevates its status, or maybe democratizes art-making itself? But why this specific peacock? Curator: Ah, the peacock introduces the element of consumption. Peacocks were often kept on estates, symbols of wealth and status, not everyday sights for the masses. Cox depicts one using this accessible medium. Could this suggest a commentary on access to luxury, observed through the lens of the working class who make the paper, the pencil, everything we can appreciate? Editor: So, the drawing itself becomes a sort of… commodity? Curator: Precisely. It is an object made using accessible materials, depicting a luxury item for, perhaps, a middle-class audience with an interest in both landscape and social commentary. A material object imbued with layered social meaning through both subject and production. How else might Cox engage the viewer with consumption and display? Editor: I see the landscape around it. It’s minimal but sets a specific locale – Capel Curig. He's rooting this exotic bird in a particular place, a site of production, consumption and labor, not just an idealized space. Thanks, I never would have considered that! Curator: And that's the beauty of art – peeling back the layers to understand its relationship to the material world. Every choice tells a story about how we consume, produce, and interact with our surroundings.