Unidentified, plan (recto) blank (verso) 1500 - 1560

Editor: This drawing, “Unidentified Plan” made with ink on paper sometime between 1500 and 1560, seems like an architect's preliminary sketch, but the irregular shape makes it hard to immediately categorize. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: The power of this piece resides in the simplicity of the formal structure; line defines volume here. Observe how the central configuration, an intersecting cruciform of sorts, creates dynamic tension within the implied boundaries of the larger octagonal form. Do you perceive a deliberate asymmetry despite the apparent radial balance? Editor: I think so. Some of the lines seem fainter, almost like corrections. The shapes, particularly the circles at each corner, aren’t perfectly uniform, giving the plan a sort of organic feel. Curator: Indeed. These irregularities articulate the manual, the author's presence. Consider the weight and variation of each line, the intentional use of negative space, and the texture of the paper itself. These formal elements generate meaning as much as any intended representation. It seems to adhere to no codified form, yet its symbolism can perhaps be deciphered. Editor: So even without knowing exactly what it’s a plan *for*, we can learn a lot just from the marks on the page and their relationships to one another? Curator: Precisely. The drawing is both an object and a system of signs communicating intentions which still speak to us, without a referent, five centuries later. Editor: That’s a helpful reminder to really slow down and analyze the art in front of me instead of getting too caught up in the background information. Curator: My sentiments exactly; sometimes less information yields more insight.