There is something deeply appealing about going back to the capital of the Roman Empire and exploring the city in its heyday. One of the first books that inspired my interest was F.R. Cowell’s Everyday Life in Ancient Rome (Batsford, 1961). What enthralled me were four illustrations by architect Josef Bühlman and historical painter Alexander von Wagner. ‘Illustrations’ does not do the Germans’ work justice. They had the quality of photographs.
The original source of the images was the book , published in 1890. It accompanied a special exhibition. From meticulously drawn pencil sketches, Bühlman and Wagner created a painted wrap-around 360° seen from the Capitoline Hill. Unlike the others I had seen, there was a compelling actuality and lived-in feel about Bühlman’s and Wagner’s work. Yet, for all their exquisite artistry, the near hyper-realistic images were static and two dimensional. What you saw was what
