Reconstruction of the Monument to Septimius Severus (above), View of the Ruins (below) 1690 - 1704

Jan Goeree’s ink on paper artwork, "Reconstruction of the Monument to Septimius Severus (above), View of the Ruins (below)," transports us to a time when European artists looked to classical antiquity. Goeree, working in the Dutch Republic, depicts both an imagined, pristine reconstruction and the decayed reality of the Severan monument. This juxtaposition reveals the complicated relationship between the present and the past. There's a tension that emerges, almost a dialogue, between the idealized vision of empire and its physical remnants. Who gets to imagine this history, to reconstruct it, and for what purposes? The ruins themselves evoke a powerful sense of loss, a visual elegy to the ephemerality of power. These are themes with a modern sensibility, themes that echo contemporary conversations about cultural memory, the legacies of colonialism, and the power dynamics inherent in historical narratives.