Hey everyone! Happy (almost) New Year! Today I decided to talk about a piece that I adored when I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It’s called the North Terrace at Windsor Castle, Looking East created by Paul Sandby around 1775 to 1780.

As stated in the title, this work includes a painting of the Windsor Castle. During the time Sandby was creating this, King George III would come with his family to visit here. If he and his family visited, they would be able to see people walking on the terraces. Therefore, the figures are divided by people who want to be seen (located more towards the lake/river), and people who didn’t want to be seen (located more towards the castle and shady locations).

Though it does not explicitly say that this is a genre painting, it reminds me of one. It seems as though Sandby captured a particular moment in time, which is one of the features I like in this painting. Also, Sandby was able to carefully work out the landscape, figures, and architecture to look pleasing to the viewers.

This is what the castle looks like today:

I may be wrong, but it looks like Sandby painted part of the Curfew Tower (on the far right of this picture).  Or it may be part of the Upper Ward (on the far left of this painting). There are some features in the painting that can be seen in both sides, so it’s difficult to figure out which one it is. However, it’s always interesting to see how artist’s viewed and saw places that we can see today! It sort of connects us with and to history.