This Section considers how the physical traces of the past are transformed into ruins, sites that are endowed with a particular aesthetic value or historical meaning.

Johann Huttich
German, 1480(?)–1544
Roman ruins at Mainz, Germany
Woodcut from Johann Huttich, Collectanea antiquitatum in urbe atque agro Moguntino repertarum
Mainz: Ioannis Schoeffer, 1525
85-B26875

Anonymous
Imaginary ruins with arcade
Woodcut from Sebastiano Serlio, Tutte l'opere d'architettura
Venice: Francesco Marcolino da Forli, 1540
85-B6491

Charles Estienne
French, 1504(?)–1564
Anatomical inset, corpse resting on ruins
Woodcut from De dissectione partium corporis humani
Paris: Apud Simonem Colinæum, 1545
84-B31171

Marco Sadeler
German, active early seventeenth century
Interior of the Baths of Caracalla, Rome
Engraving from Aegidius Sadeler, Vestigi delle antichità di Roma Tivoli Pozzuolo et altri luochi
Rome: Gio. Iacomo de Rossi, 1660
85-B14694

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720–1778
Ruins of an ancient tomb and aqueduct
circa 1740s
Etching
900153B*

Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720–1778
Sepulchral urn of Marcus Agrippa
circa 1740s
Etching
900153B*

René Jacques Charpentier
French, 1733–1770
Ruins of classical architecture and tomb
Engraving from Jacques-François Blondel, Livre nouveau; ou, Règles des cinq ordres d'architecture
Paris: Chés Petit, 1767
93-B6777

Georges-Louis Le Rouge
French, active late eighteenth century
Cross section of column house, artificial ruin in the Désert de Retz, France
Engraving from Détail des nouveaux jardins à la mode
Paris: Chez Le Rouge, circa 1776–1787
88-B1922

Georges-Louis Le Rouge
French, active late eighteenth century
Column house, artificial ruin in the Désert de Retz, France
Engraving from Détail des nouveaux jardins à la mode
Paris: Chez Le Rouge, circa 1776–1787
88-B1922

Frederick MacKenzie
British, 1788(?)–1854
Theater at Patara, Turkey
circa 1840
Drawing, ink and wash, after a sketch by William Gell
840199*

Frederick MacKenzie
British, 1788(?)–1854
Propylon at Patara, Turkey
circa 1840
Drawing, ink and wash, after a sketch by William Gell
840199*

Roger Fenton
British, 1819–1869
Tintern Abbey, England
circa late 1850s–1862
Albumen print
96.R.34

Francis Frith
English, 1822–1898
Fountains Abbey, England
circa 1859
Albumen print
96.R.32

Braun, Clément et Cie.
Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens
Albumen print, ca. 1860s
88.R.26**