Ruins emerge out of nowhere when DrBoy and I go out on dates too

the Met is running an exhibition entitled American stories: paintings of everyday life 1765-1915
"American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915 presents tales artists told about their times and examines how their accounts reflect shifting professional standards, opportunities for study, foreign prototypes, venues for display, and viewers' expectations. Excluding images based on history, myth, or literature, the exhibition emphasizes instead those derived from artists' firsthand observation, documentation, and interaction with clients. These paintings are analogous to original—not adapted—screenplays. Recurring themes such as childhood, marriage, family, and community; the notion of citizenship; attitudes toward race; the frontier as reality and myth; and the process and meaning of making art illuminate the evolution of American artists' approach to narrative."

i find this one quite interesting for many reasons....

Lilly Martin Spencer (American, 1822–1902)
Reading the Legend, 1852
Oil on canvas; 50 3/8 x 38 in. (128 x 96.5 cm)
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts, Gift of Adeline Flint Wing, class of 1898, and Caroline Roberta Wing, class of 1896 (SC 1954:69)

In a tribute to the power and popularity of American literature at mid-century, Spencer portrays a young couple whose romance is nourished by the novels they share. Their tender reverie is so intense that the specter of a Gothic castle ruin emerges out of the misty landscape. The age of chivalry has materialized and love blossoms most easily in nature—with the assistance of prose.