Dwarsdoorsnede van een piramide 1803 - 1805

Reinier Vinkeles created this print, "Cross-section of a Pyramid," sometime between 1741 and 1816. It offers a glimpse into how European culture looked back to ancient Egypt and sought to understand it. The print reveals a fascination with the internal structure of these massive monuments and reflects the burgeoning field of Egyptology during that time. But this wasn't just scientific interest. The image comes from a time of European colonial expansion. As such, we can consider it as part of a broader project to understand, classify, and ultimately control non-European cultures and histories. Consider how such images, circulated through prints and books, would have shaped popular understanding of Egypt. We must study these cross-sections, diagrams, and architectural renderings alongside travel accounts, political tracts, and other documents of the period to understand the complex relationship between knowledge, power, and representation. The history of art is inseparable from the history of institutions and social structures.