Romeinse badinrichting te Maastricht 1843

Tiemen Hooiberg made this drawing of a Roman bathhouse in Maastricht with pen and ink. The image shows us the layout of the bathhouse. Hooiberg made a visual record of a place that had, until recently, been hidden underground. This invokes the 19th-century fascination with classical antiquity. The drawing shows us the influence of Rome on the Netherlands which could have had different meanings during this time. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Netherlands tried to establish a new national identity. Highlighting the influence of the Roman empire on the Netherlands could have been used to give shape to this new identity. We can deepen our understanding of this drawing by studying archives and archeological reports about the discovery of the bathhouse and other Roman remains in Maastricht. This will give us a better understanding of the role of classical antiquity in 19th-century Dutch culture.