Rome: In the Farnesian Garden 

Editor: This is Ferdinand Becker's "Rome: In the Farnesian Garden," a drawing from the Tate Collections. It's incredibly detailed, especially considering it's just done in ink. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: I'm fascinated by Becker's use of line. Look at how he meticulously renders the aging stone, the crumbling architecture. This isn't just about depicting a garden; it's about the labor of creating such a space, and the subsequent decay, the inevitable return of nature, and the material implications. Editor: So, it's less about the beauty and more about the...process? Curator: Precisely. The very act of drawing, the artist's hand, becomes a comment on human effort against the relentless force of time and nature. It is consumption, creation, and inevitable return. Editor: That gives me a lot to think about, thank you. Curator: Indeed, a study in impermanence wrought in permanence.