View of the Ponte San Rocco at Tivoli; verso: Buildings on the River Aniene near Tivoli (?) 1640 - 1645

Guilliam du Gardijn made this drawing of the Ponte San Rocco at Tivoli with pen and brown ink, and gray wash on cream laid paper. The eye is immediately drawn to the stark contrast between the architectural precision of the bridge and the rugged, amorphous shapes of the surrounding landscape. Notice how du Gardijn uses a monochromatic palette to emphasize the interplay of light and shadow. The absence of color directs our focus to the formal relationships within the composition. The bridge, rendered with clean, deliberate lines, spans a chasm of loosely defined rock formations. This juxtaposition creates a visual tension, almost a dialectic, between order and chaos, the man-made and the natural. Du Gardijn destabilizes any sense of a unified perspective by fragmenting the composition into distinct zones. This challenges traditional landscape conventions and suggests a more complex, fragmented understanding of space. Ultimately, the drawing's power lies in its ability to invite ongoing interpretation. Each element functions within a structural framework that questions our assumptions about landscape, representation, and the very act of seeing.