picturesque and gloomy wrong

[bitterfig]

On Friday I went to an exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum called “American’s Rome: Artists in the Eternal City 1800-1900 that spotlighted the Roman themed work of 19th century American Artists. The exhibit included many painting of ruins and the commentary on these featured a quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Marble Faun that I really

Comments

[readingthedark]

If it weren't for ruin, I'm not sure I would believe in anything

[bitterfig]

Thank you. Living in Otsego County was one of my greatest fears too for a long time but now that I'm here it's not so bad as I made it out to be in my mind.

Jokes about pegging are always welcome.

[darknessasunder]

The time-depth of recorded history here in North America being no where near as deep as in Europe, I have felt that and been aware of it since I went on a trip to France when I was in 5th grade. The feel and sense of place and something like the taste in the air is different. This history can be tasted in the air in the presence of old buildings. The older the buildings, the deeper the taste. The stronger a certain sense of presence of place. Place within long spanses of time. There need not be Ruin present to feel this. But the depths of Time and history give exactly that -- a sense of depth and layers and long spanses not there in shallower (shorter) pile-ups of history(and of course things do tend to eventually fall apart and crumble, given enough Time, bringing Ruin with

[bitterfig]

Your comments are really interesting, thanks for sharing them.