Design for a Lavabo, Plate 85 from Dietterlin's Architectura 1598

Editor: Here we have "Design for a Lavabo, Plate 85 from Dietterlin's Architectura," an engraving created in 1598 by Wendel Dietterlin, the Elder. It depicts a very ornate architectural design. It feels a bit like a fever dream of geometric shapes. I'm fascinated and overwhelmed! What catches your eye when you look at this, beyond just the sheer density of detail? Curator: It’s an architectural fantasy, isn’t it? Utterly bonkers and brilliant. To me, it whispers of the Mannerist aesthetic. Think elegance taken to the extreme, artificiality embraced. There’s a deliberate flouting of classical balance in favor of something altogether more... theatrical. See how the various elements—the scrolls, the masks, the oddly placed gems—fight for attention? Is it architectural, or sculptural, or something in between? Editor: I can see that now, how it’s pushing against traditional classical architecture, really playing with the rules. So much ornamentation. What was Dietterlin trying to achieve with this style? Curator: It's like he was trying to construct a world entirely out of ornament. A bit like life, actually – we are always building things up and decorating them to make them ours, to impose our own order on things. Dietterlin probably felt that art needed to be complex and evocative to affect people; he once wrote about architecture being able to incite passion. This piece, and much of his *Architectura*, served as an influential sourcebook of architectural, interior and ornamental designs for the era. A playground of visual ideas, I would argue, intended to ignite the creative spark! Editor: So, it’s almost a collection of ideas, like a visual brainstorming session captured in print? That's such a cool perspective. I initially just saw chaotic detail, but now it reads as an exuberant invitation. Curator: Precisely. Now, doesn't that feel less like a blueprint, and more like an *inspiration*?