Design for a Triumphal Arch 1780 - 1830

This "Design for a Triumphal Arch" is an ink drawing on paper, created by an anonymous artist. The triumphal arch itself is all about material, because it is an architecture for political messaging, not just physical passage. The arch is a display of power. In this drawing, the ink allows for precise detailing of its carved surfaces, suggesting a monument built of stone. The arch would have been erected by skilled laborers, quarrying the stone and then giving it ornamental form. The structure isn't just stone, it’s a testament to the social structures required to create that stonework, and the political forces that would set that project in motion. We can ask ourselves what kind of political narratives and messages that would have been embedded in its very substance? It would be a celebration of a ruler's authority or a military conquest. This drawing then, reminds us of the potent relationship between materials, making, and the projection of social order.