  About the Artwork
  
  
  The subject of industrial architecture inspired the work of husband and wife artists Bernd and Hilla Becher. Their goal was to document structures that were disappearing in the West due to the slowdown of the manufacturing sector. The Becher’s photographed the same types of structures at different sites and established categories such as water towers, blast furnaces, and gas tanks, among others. They adhered to a strict formal aesthetic in each photograph; the subject is viewed from the front, photographed against a neutral gray sky with a consistent horizon line and similar vantage point. Multiple images were then presented in a serial format or grid.  Together, the photographs reveal the distinct character of each architectural form. Although the artists reused images, each grid or typology was made unique through their combination and sequence of the photographs. Hilla Becher assembled this typology from their archive and especially for the DIA’s collection.
  
  
  Title
  An Imaginary View with a Triumphal Arch
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1755
  
  Artist
  Canaletto
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1697-1768
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Pen and brown ink, gray wash, heightened in white over graphite on cream laid paper
  
  
  Dimensions
  Sheet: 10 × 15 1/16 inches (25.4 × 38.3 cm)
  Framed: 19 1/4 × 24 1/4 × 1 1/2 inches (48.9 × 61.6 × 3.8 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Drawings
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; Photographs
  
  
  Credit
  Bequest of John S. Newberry
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  65.177
  
  
  Copyright
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