The Architect 1524 - 1557

This engraving, made by Georges Reverdy around the mid-16th century, depicts an architect amidst a grand, ruined structure. Observe the columns, arches, and spiral staircase; they speak of classical antiquity, a world of order and reason, now decaying. But it's the architect himself who commands our attention; he's framing a window or perhaps a painting. This act of framing is an ancient gesture, found in countless artworks. Think of the prothesis scene in ancient Greek funerary art, where a figure is framed, marking a transition between life and death. Reverdy's architect, too, frames a view, a perspective, perhaps a new reality amidst the ruins of the old. What is he showing us? The sun, the light of reason, and a new dawn. The ruin is a place of potential, waiting to be rebuilt by this man. The enduring human need to impose order upon chaos, and to extract meaning from decay. The architect becomes an archetype for the re-emergence of civilization.