Baths of Agrippa 1641

Editor: This is Giacomo Lauro's "Baths of Agrippa," an etching. The architectural details are so precise. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Beyond the rendering of space, I see a commentary on power and social control. The baths were sites of social gathering, but also of Roman imperial authority. Consider how the architecture itself reinforces hierarchies. Editor: Hierarchies? How so? Curator: Who had access? What bodies were deemed worthy of these spaces? The baths, while communal, were not necessarily egalitarian. How does the artist’s perspective reinforce or critique this social stratification? Editor: I hadn't considered that. So it's not just about the architecture itself, but also about who it was built for and who it excluded. Curator: Precisely. It is about how structures can embody power dynamics.