The Aurelian Walls, Rome 1927

Editor: This is "The Aurelian Walls, Rome," an etching made in 1927 by Louis Conrad Rosenberg. The stark contrast between the walls and open sky, the bustling crowd – it feels like the artist is showing us something enduring against the everyday. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What strikes me is the monumentality imposed upon these ancient structures, a deliberate visual rhetoric. Consider the Aurelian Walls themselves: erected initially in the 3rd century to protect Rome, a testament to imperial power, later reinforced over centuries, witnessing the ebb and flow of empires and societal shifts. Rosenberg created this piece after the end of the First World War. How does this timing shift our understanding of what these walls meant for viewers then and now? Editor: That’s a good point – the image of these imposing walls during a time of rebuilding makes you wonder about what "protection" really means, and who gets to decide what's worth protecting. Curator: Exactly! And look at the way the people are depicted – small, almost dwarfed by the walls. The composition itself reinforces a power dynamic. Whose stories are truly told in this image, and whose are silenced? What is Rosenberg's perspective? We must also think about the historical context. What specific histories or ideologies do you think are represented by the Pyramid of Cestius within the print? Is this a reflection on mortality, on civilization, on the nature of power itself? Editor: I didn't even notice the Pyramid before. Knowing all that makes it feel less like a pretty landscape and more like a loaded statement about power, legacy, and the echoes of the past. I’m definitely going to think differently about cityscapes from now on. Curator: Precisely. Engaging with the context around an artwork shifts it from being a mere image into a potent source of inquiry and critical thought.