Third View of the Baths of Diocletian 1561

Curator: At first glance, there’s a real sense of decay and abandonment here. A feeling of something lost. Editor: Indeed. This is Hieronymus Cock's "Third View of the Baths of Diocletian," a print rendered with meticulous lines. Cock, active during the 16th century, shows us not just the architectural form but also the consumption of antiquity by nature. Curator: I notice the figures in the foreground; they seem so small, dwarfed by the scale of the ruins. It makes you think about power, doesn't it? The ephemeral nature of empires, the way even the grandest structures are reclaimed. Editor: And what of the labor that built this? The hands that quarried the stone, hoisted it into place. The baths were once a place of social mixing, but this rendering highlights a very different kind of engagement with materiality. We see the slow, inevitable labor of erosion. Curator: That’s a good point. I was so caught up in the romantic idea of ruin that I neglected the work inherent to its very existence as a structure, and even in its decay. Editor: It’s in considering the dialogue between labor and material that we can confront these historical narratives more deeply. Curator: Thank you. It’s certainly given me a new perspective on how to view such landscapes. Editor: My pleasure. It’s amazing what close looking can reveal.