Landscape with Rising Sun, December 1, 1828, 8:30 a.m. 1828

Curator: Take a moment to admire Joseph Michael Gandy's "Landscape with Rising Sun, December 1, 1828, 8:30 a.m.," created in 1828 and on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work is primarily watercolor on drawing. Editor: It has a dreamy, ephemeral quality. The way the light filters through the clouds – it’s less about a defined place and more about capturing a fleeting moment. Curator: Indeed. Gandy’s plein-air landscape invites us into a Romantic ideal. Considering its creation involved an open-air practice that valued immediacy, its execution relies upon close observation to capture the specifics of weather and seasonal change. Gandy’s watercolor evokes this sensibility as the drawing's surface is only just marked. Editor: Absolutely. This makes me wonder, what kind of labour went into a work like this? As a watercolour study, did it simply operate to quickly reproduce the landscape to fuel architectural fantasies? If you think about it, plein-air works depended on technological advancement, like paint being stored in small portable containers. Its small size allowed its mobility to various outdoor spaces. Curator: That’s a compelling observation! It also illustrates the deep impact that material availability had on artistic practice in the early 19th century. Gandy worked primarily as an architectural draughtsman, so this painting demonstrates a kind of informal landscape, one quickly capturing light and space within his professional architectural activities. This painting moves the field, making a bridge from one realm to another. Editor: Gandy blurs boundaries between architecture and landscape, labor and leisure, production and imagination. While at first glance the piece expresses light and ethereal qualities, understanding his creative method can produce a more robust sense of what this moment might represent in Gandy's life. Curator: Right! There's something quite moving about the way the watercolor washes create this translucent light effect. This artwork almost feels like an intimate glimpse into Gandy's daily life and mind as much as it shows the landscape itself. Editor: Ultimately, this piece becomes more intriguing once we look closely at how social conditions and material culture inform this piece. It helps us recognize a deep and interesting artistic process.