Sketches in Pompeii

Architect Arnold William Brunner's travel sketches from Pompeii combine architectural notation with quick observational drawing. The sheet documents classical details—a figure study in profile, drapery studies, and a Corinthian capital—alongside handwritten annotations marking measurements and observations. Yellow stains suggest pressed botanical specimens, a common practice among nineteenth-century travelers. These working sketches reveal the dual method of architects in this era: precise technical recording alongside expressive freehand study. Such notebooks served dual purposes—practical reference for future designs and personal record of the Grand Tour tradition that shaped American architectural training through direct encounter with classical precedent.