Tomb of Nero, plate 7 from the Ruins of Rome c. 1796

M. Dubourg created this aquatint etching titled "Tomb of Nero" sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The tomb stands, austere and monumental, a silent witness to the passage of time. Even in ruins, the tomb's architectural motifs—the heavy stone, the suggestion of inscriptions—speak to the enduring human impulse to memorialize and seek immortality. Consider the clouds churning above; a motif symbolizing the sublime power of nature to both create and destroy, evoking a sense of awe and humility before the vastness of time. Similar symbols appear in other contexts and epochs, from ancient Roman sarcophagi to Northern Renaissance paintings, always carrying the weight of mortality. The tomb is not merely a historical artifact; it is a stage upon which the drama of human existence plays out. It reminds us that while empires rise and fall, the symbols and stories we create echo through time, constantly reshaped by collective memory.