Chiesa Di San Barnaba 1897

Curator: Here we have Giuseppe Barberis’s “Chiesa Di San Barnaba,” an engraving from 1897. The scene depicts the church’s facade in incredible detail. Editor: It’s stark. That crosshatching, the linear precision… it conveys such a weightiness, a formidable sense of permanence. You immediately notice the texture born from laborious incision. Curator: Precisely. Look at the way Barberis utilizes line to define volume and depth. The hatching creates subtle gradations of light and shadow, adhering to classical-realist tenets. The meticulous attention to architectural form is evident in the proportional relationships between the various elements of the facade, it is neoclassical in its approach. Editor: And how the marks delineate the stonework itself. Think of the skill involved—translating that mass into linear form. The repetitive act of engraving these fine lines—it’s meditative but so labour-intensive. You see this as a commentary on process? On material translated, manipulated through a practiced human act? Curator: I interpret it more as an idealized representation, purified of the messiness inherent in the building’s actual construction. It abstracts the building’s function. Form over raw human input or effort. It evokes the enduring values associated with architectural mastery; line work here defines shape above anything else, adhering to classical ideals. Editor: But consider the paper itself— its humble origins, contrasting with the grand subject matter depicted. Does the process become invisible in your formal analysis? I keep thinking about who created the individual engraving and what they experienced working on it. Curator: An interesting counterpoint. However, I’m compelled to interpret its arrangement foremost and foremost, in regards to creating harmony, balance and order, even from an imperfect or "laborious" means. Editor: So we observe order constructed from methodical labor. A building and image as palimpsests. Curator: Perhaps. Thank you. Editor: Thank you, the engraving revealed something when considered between method and classical design.