James Ward made this pencil drawing, entitled *A View near Hamilton*, in 1843. His landscapes are often associated with the picturesque movement and this piece gives us a glimpse into how this style was being developed. This drawing creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations with the sublime. Ward lived through a time of great social change in England. The rise of industrialization had a profound effect on the landscape and the lives of people who lived and worked there. These drawings comment on the social structures of their own time. They are self-consciously conservative and critique the institutions of art. As historians, we use resources like letters, diaries, and account books to discover what people thought and felt about the world around them. These resources allow us to better understand the meaning of art as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.