Gefantaseerd Italiaans stadsgezicht met klassieke bouwwerken 1685 - 1735

Abraham Rademaker created this imagined Italian cityscape with classical buildings using pen in gray ink and brush in gray wash. Rademaker lived during the Dutch Golden Age, a period of immense economic prosperity and cultural flourishing for the Netherlands. However, this prosperity came at a cost, as the Dutch colonial empire expanded, leading to exploitation and displacement of people in colonized territories. Rademaker himself never traveled to Italy. The ruins in this drawing romanticize a certain kind of masculinity. The men who appear in the drawing seem to be in conversation with the remains of European architecture. What is preserved and what is lost to time? Rademaker invites us to consider the relationship between power, cultural identity, and historical memory. He does so through the lens of this imaginary space.