Dorische Säulenhalle mit Rundbogengewölbe und einem Portal mit einer Sphinx c. 1796 - 1800

Giorgio Fuentes made this drawing of a Doric hall with arches and sphinx in the late 18th century, using pen and ink. The medium itself is quite traditional; paper was widely available and relatively cheap by this time, and ink drawings were a standard means of architectural study. However, note the drawing’s precision, which is really the point here. Fuentes wasn’t just representing architecture, he was performing it. The sheer labor of depicting every stone, every carved figure, suggests a near-obsessive level of attention. Think of this as a kind of speculative history. The artist looks back to the ancient world, and forward to an imagined future. The image seems to say that the only way we can truly know the past is through dedicated work in the present. Fuentes makes clear that the work of the architect is also the work of the artist and draughtsman, a testament to the power of human invention.