Gezicht op Palazzo Giustiniani, te Rome after 1760

Editor: This print, "Gezicht op Palazzo Giustiniani, te Rome," likely created after 1760 by an anonymous artist, depicts a cityscape in incredibly precise detail. The precision makes it look so real, but the composition somehow feels staged, almost like a theater set. What do you make of it? Curator: Staged, you say? That's interesting. I feel that too. It has to do with the intense focus on the Palazzo Giustiniani and how everything in the scene seems to lead our eye towards it. Look at the perspective. Aren't you almost *uncomfortably* aware of its presence? The tiny figures populating the square are just there for scale, aren't they? Editor: Yeah, I see what you mean. They seem secondary. It’s as though they just populate this "stage", they aren't really characters in a story. Curator: Precisely. The building *is* the story. Consider the print's purpose –likely an advertisement, or a souvenir of sorts. A way to possess a fragment of Rome back home. The printmaker isn’t documenting life as it is *lived*, but as it’s *experienced* in short bursts and quick impressions. Do you see the contrast now between realism and the artificiality of the setting? Editor: Definitely. It is very precise. Every line must have taken a lot of skill, a bit of calculation… What is interesting is that it's almost like two stories on one single surface. What were your impressions on first sight? Curator: A hush came over me and I wondered for a brief moment where the soundtrack was to my experience… perhaps there was a silent orchestra playing behind me to make me have an experience similar to the one who originally set eyes upon this vista! That moment felt special... but now I’m ready to move on to experience the real, contemporary, world in sound and in color! What's next? Editor: That's quite beautiful and moving. Okay, let’s go on to the next one.