The entire book consists of two-pagers: A drawing of a building in Rome and an empty page, presumably to prevent smearing of the ink:
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2-3-rotated.jpg)
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2-4-2-rotated.jpg)
This is the first image in the work. The text becomes one with the building, as if the words had a physical presence. The author is perhaps trying to confirm his place in history and inscribe his perspective into the numerous architectural works that he has drawn.
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2-5-1-2000x1414.jpg)
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2-6-2000x1414.jpg)
One has to turn their head in order to fully view this drawing, which serves to emphasize the magnitude and sheer height of the building’s vaults.
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2-1.jpg)
![](https://friendswithanoldbook.delbeke.arch.ethz.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/photo-2_2-rotated.jpg)
The bottom half of this drawing sticks out as incredibly baroque: The horse in the bottom-right corner is drawn mid-air, as if it had just jumped, the people’s coats are swinging in the wind and a carriage is making its way across the piazza. Here, people are not banal, they become something three-dimensional and therefore form part of the architecture. It is interesting to see how that translates into drawing. This is a scene, it creates interest by forming a personal connection with the reader of its time.