Gezicht op ruïnes in Rome 1650 - 1695

Adam Perelle created this print, ‘View of ruins in Rome,’ sometime in the latter half of the 17th century. Perelle was one of many Northern European artists drawn to Italy, in search of the classical past. This print captures Rome as a city layered with temporalities. Note the ruins. For centuries, the Roman Forum had been used as a quarry, its stones repurposed for new buildings, while the street level rose, burying ancient monuments. In the 17th century, the ruins became a picturesque landscape, one inhabited by the local population and a destination for wealthy tourists. Consider the way that Perelle has included both. Are they interacting? What are their social positions? What is being lost to time? Perelle captures a society grappling with a past that was slipping away. How do we engage with our own pasts?