Unidentified building, plan (recto) blank (verso) 1500 - 1560

Editor: So, here we have an architectural drawing—a floor plan, actually. It's called "Unidentified building, plan," made sometime between 1500 and 1560 by an anonymous artist. It's at the Met in New York. It feels very precise and a little bit mysterious because, well, it's unidentified! What leaps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes, it’s like peering into the past's aspirations, isn't it? For me, the allure is in imagining the echoes of footsteps on those planned floors. It’s anonymous, sure, but consider what it suggests about the Renaissance mind, obsessed with order and proportion. Notice how the shapes, primarily rectangles and squares, hint at the classical revival. What story might each room tell? Are we looking at a palace, a library, perhaps even a monastery? Editor: That’s a really evocative way to put it! The order is definitely there. But it’s also strangely…flat? Like a stage set before the actors arrive. Do you think the artist was an architect, or just someone recording existing buildings? Curator: That’s the riddle, isn't it? A creator, perhaps even a dreamer…or just a recorder of the existing. Either way, there is some artistry, with a dance of light and shadow defining walls and archways. Perhaps this was meant to spark imagination in its patron or architect… What about the plan makes you wonder whether the spaces are interconnected? Editor: Oh, that's an interesting point. The circulation seems pretty awkward by today's standards, so I suppose I'm projecting my modern expectations onto a historical drawing. Curator: Exactly! Our modern expectations! These glimpses back invite us to look closer not only at lines on paper, but into minds and intentions and, finally, ourselves. Thank you for that thought.