Design for a Curved Ornamental Cove to Support a Dome (?) 1700 - 1780

Curator: Looking at this intriguing drawing, a Design for a Curved Ornamental Cove to Support a Dome, likely conceived between 1700 and 1780, invites immediate fascination with the era’s aesthetic ambition. What's your initial read? Editor: Well, there’s an immediate sense of power and control conveyed by these rigid geometric elements—the very lines and shapes declare hierarchy, especially as they reach towards the implied dome, suggesting some upper echelons in its time of creation. Curator: Absolutely, the unyielding pursuit of authority can’t be missed in Baroque designs. Let’s look at what some view as its intention— to dazzle the observer with grandeur. Here we see, in ink and pencil, and potentially some engraving as well, how the architecture could have functioned in service of absolutism. Editor: It makes me think, then, about what exactly they were trying to say about the people under the dome, the implicit messaging conveyed through geometric dominion of an enormous physical and social place…what was society's temperature when this design came about, given these particular proportions? It would be interesting to understand what intersectional experience was like as opposed to only analyzing intention... Curator: I would also point out some symbolism at play; light in such structures—enabled by those curves, would play across surfaces, transforming the experience itself into something... otherworldly. A constructed ideal, I suppose. Editor: An illusion meant to project divine favor? The symbols embedded would subtly underscore the claims to authority... like stagecraft! Do you find its function or artistic skill more dominant? Curator: Here, context is so crucial. Skill is inherent, of course, yet its architectural function, particularly as an instrument to influence perception and potentially further structural power, marks this era profoundly. This design exists now as a ghost of such intentions. Editor: True, what we take away today contrasts vastly with those envisioned outcomes... fascinating, to hold all those threads.