Fascicule I 1763

Editor: Here we have *Fascicule I*, a 1763 etching by Jean Claude Richard, Abbé de Saint-Non. It presents several drawings on a single sheet. What jumps out at me is this almost clinical arrangement of classical forms. How would you interpret that? Curator: Clinical is interesting! It makes me think of the Enlightenment's passion for cataloging the world. Saint-Non was obsessed with Roman antiquity, wasn't he? These aren't just drawings; they’re documents, attempts to resurrect a lost world, stone by careful line. I wonder if, when Saint-Non sketched these, he ever felt the sun on those ancient stones. Do you get that sense? Editor: Hmmm, I’m not sure, but that suggestion makes me appreciate that they look more “alive” than before. Curator: Exactly. See the statue, standing rigidly, like an artifact pulled from the earth? I like to think of what those original forms once were – gods, emperors, even everyday people captured for all time! Then consider Saint-Non himself – just one fleeting soul chasing shadows. I imagine he was really seeking more than just an image, something about human nature that still inspires the artist and student to copy those artistic features from long ago. Editor: The layers of time within one image! Curator: It becomes more than a pretty etching, doesn't it? More like a meditation. Editor: Definitely. It's amazing to think about how a single sheet can hold so much. Curator: In a way, it becomes like its own little universe of reflections.