Graftombe in de buurt van Tivoli 1792

Johann Christian Reinhart made this print of a tomb near Tivoli using etching. Reinhart was a German painter and engraver who spent much of his career in Italy, a common practice for Northern European artists seeking to steep themselves in the traditions of the classical world. This image embodies the 18th and 19th century fascination with the picturesque, a concept closely tied to both aesthetics and politics. The picturesque celebrated the beauty found in decay and the sublime power of nature to reclaim human structures. But it was also a view that could only be enjoyed from a position of privilege. Look at the figures on the road, small and indistinct, dwarfed by the landscape and the ruined tomb. Their labor, their lives, are subsumed within this aesthetic vision. The picturesque then, becomes a lens through which class distinctions are made stark, the working classes are rendered invisible, while the ruins are framed for our enjoyment. Consider how we are implicated in this view.