Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T02:51:59.484Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Reconstruction Drawings: Illustrating the Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2013

Susan Greaney
Affiliation:
Department at English Heritage
Nigel Mills
Affiliation:
Director, World Heritage and Access, The Hadrian's Wall Trust
Get access

Summary

Introduction

This paper was originally put together and presented by the author and Dr Sarah Tatham, Interpretation Officer for the Free Sites Project at English Heritage, at the XXIst International Limes (Roman Frontiers) Congress in Newcastle upon Tyne in August 2009. The following chapter differs somewhat from the presentation given that day, for two reasons. The first is that the original paper was largely visual and by its nature a chapter in a book is more restrictive in terms of graphics. Secondly, the author's thoughts and research on this topic have developed over the intervening two years. What follows is therefore more discursive and covers wider issues of academic accuracy, authenticity and artistic style in more depth.

Why Do We Commission Reconstruction Drawings?

Reconstruction drawings of the past are produced for a variety of purposes and audiences — for museum displays, guidebooks, graphic panels and to illustrate professional archaeological texts. All have the same objective: to put flesh on the bare bones of the past by restoring — on paper, at least — what time has taken away.

English Heritage and its predecessors, beginning with the Ministry of Works in the 1950s, have commissioned and displayed many hundreds of reconstruction artworks, largely produced to help visitors to England's historic sites in guardianship understand and relate to the past. Many of these paintings are archived in the National Monuments Record in Swindon and form a unique record of the development of the discipline (see Davison 1997 for a broad overview). Today, reconstruction drawings are regularly commissioned for guidebooks and for on-site information panels.

Type
Chapter
Information
Presenting the Romans
Interpreting the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site
, pp. 31 - 40
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×