Dorische orde, voetstuk en deel van zuil before 1689

This drawing of a Doric order, pedestal, and column section was made by an anonymous artist. The image creates meaning through visual codes and cultural references to classical antiquity, which has a long and complex history of institutional usage. We can consider how specific features of the culture of the time, like social class, may have influenced the artwork. The classical aesthetic has often been associated with elite status, and it continues to be used in that way today. This object reflects an enduring cultural fascination with architectural form. A historian might use architectural treatises, pattern books, and other visual resources to better understand this image, especially within the institutional context of the Western art canon. Art is contingent on social and institutional context.