Tempel van Diana in Efeze 1614

Crispijn van de Passe II created this engraving of the Temple of Diana in Ephesus. The print presents a grand, if somewhat fantastic, architectural rendering, its circular form and towering dome dominating the composition, its monumentality emphasized through scale and detailed construction. Notice the interplay between the architectural structure and the human figures. The meticulous detail in the temple’s columns and statues contrasts sharply with the robust, active figures in the foreground, engaged in labor that grounds the mythical structure in a tangible reality. This juxtaposition is not merely decorative. It challenges fixed meanings by questioning the relationship between divine aspirations and human effort, myth and reality. Consider the semiotic system at play: classical architectural elements, suggesting order and civilization, are set against a background of what seems like chaotic construction, destabilizing any straightforward interpretation of progress or divine will. The print thus engages in a complex dialogue about the values and categories we assign to labor, divinity, and representation itself.