Sandy Bay Valley, St. Helena n.d.

Daniel Havell’s print "Sandy Bay Valley, St. Helena" transports us to a place of exile, rendered in delicate watercolors. The prominent mountain in the background is not merely a geographic feature; it is a sentinel, a symbol of isolation and silent witness to the events unfolding on this remote island. Consider the archetype of the mountain throughout history: from Mount Olympus, home of the gods, to the biblical Mount Sinai, a place of divine revelation. Yet here, in St. Helena, the mountain takes on a different valence, a more somber tone. It looms over the figures in the foreground, their burdens mirroring its own weighty presence. Like the Rückenfigur in Romantic painting, figures are seen from behind, inviting us to contemplate the landscape and consider our own place within it. The presence of St. Helena in the collective consciousness speaks to the enduring power of landscape to evoke feelings of longing, imprisonment, and the inexorable passage of time.