Palazzo Del Comune 1898

Curator: Here we have Giuseppe Barberis' "Palazzo Del Comune," dating from 1898. There’s a delicate beauty to this architectural drawing. Editor: It reminds me of an old photograph, that kind of solemn formality… Look at the weight of the stone, even rendered in such fine lines. You can practically feel the Roman labor and neoclassical dreams embedded in the very print. Curator: Absolutely! The print medium emphasizes those classical aspirations, I think. There is this wonderful airy feeling despite the size and seriousness. The cityscape teems with human potential… Doesn’t the technique remind you of Piranesi? Editor: Possibly, but the line work here doesn’t quite have Piranesi's bite, does it? Instead, look at all of the bricklaying depicted here—the repetitive action. How many anonymous hands cut, hauled, and mortared each stone in the relentless grid? That’s the human element I find most compelling, and maybe tragic, as these feats of material labor are too often taken for granted and obfuscated in grand concepts. Curator: A fair point! Though, to me, the meticulous detailing reflects an optimism of that moment in history: the ambition to shape society through imposing structures. Think of what an act of radical imagining each engraving like this could mean! Editor: Mmm, but who benefits from that societal shaping? Were these buildings designed for workers or merely the powerful? The physical work, the engraving of such massive architectural aspirations, interests me more. What about the work on paper of the author and editor? What about the workers? It's about who holds the chisel and who lays the brick! Curator: I take your point! On a deeper level, the drawing encapsulates both the aspiration and the cost. Editor: It leaves me contemplating labor: whose work persists and whose fades, unnoticed. Curator: Ultimately, Giuseppe Barberis made something both beautiful and provocative in Palazzo del Comune, an artifact as social commentary! Editor: An artifact of a place and time, materialized and layered! Thank you Giuseppe and unknown workers everywhere.