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

This anonymous drawing, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, presents a puzzle through its stark geometric forms. Executed in ink on paper, the artwork compels us to consider the dialogue between line, space, and structure. The plan's composition is immediately striking, a play of receding rectangles and trapezoids that frame a central void. The artist teases the eye through an intentional ambiguity, where the drawing may simultaneously represent both interior and exterior architecture. The numerical annotations resist easy interpretation, adding a layer of semiotic complexity. One might perceive a critical engagement with the representational conventions of architectural drawing, where utility meets abstraction. The drawing exists not merely as a functional blueprint, but as a reflective piece on the nature of form and space. Ultimately, this drawing invites a deeper consideration of how the artist has destabilized established meanings through the interplay of geometric shapes, challenging us to see beyond the surface and engage with the underlying structural language of art.