The Colosseum Seen from the Southeast c. 1700

Curator: Standing before us is Gaspar van Wittel’s “The Colosseum Seen from the Southeast,” currently housed at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: There’s an immediate sense of decay and repurposing. The majestic Colosseum, rendered in stone, is already crumbling, hosting grazing sheep. Curator: Exactly! The painting becomes a poignant commentary on the cyclical nature of power. The Colosseum, once a symbol of Roman dominance, is now picturesque ruins. How do we reconcile that shift? Editor: Think of the labor invested in its construction versus its current state. The materiality speaks to both ambition and impermanence. It shows that no matter the scale or intent, everything returns to the earth. Curator: I agree. The people added later underscore the point. It's not just an architectural study; it’s about how societies rebuild atop the foundations of the past. Editor: Absolutely, the materials themselves, the stone, are not static. They weather, break, and are reclaimed, mirroring the very social structures they once represented. Curator: Such a compelling reminder that our grandest achievements are inevitably subject to time and the forces of history. Editor: It's humbling to consider the implications of such grand ambitions on labor, the resources used, and their eventual fate.