Architecture has been called "an art for all men…the one most continually before our eyes." Because the difficulties of travel limited on-site study, architects and their buildings were known principally through graphics. These strong and beautiful images of man’s attempt to shape his environment are both highly decorative and historically important.

Graphic art and architecture have interacted at significant points in our cultural history. Early images are often medieval interpretations of historically significant sites or architectural principles. When architects of the of the 15th century began to re-define space, they relied upon the concepts of Vitruvius’ De Architectura written in the 1st century BC. A century later, Palladio drew upon these principles for his Four Books of Architecture. Inigo Jones, the architect of Whitehall Palace and Covent Garden, came under the influence of Palladio while traveling in Italy in the 17th century. By the end of the century, society revolted against the strict symmetry and coldness of the past. Architects such as Bernini and Vignola celebrated the later years of the Renaissance with a complex organization of rich decoration, fluid form, and design known as Baroque. In the structures and gardens of royal France, depicted in Perelle’s 17th century engravings and those of Demortain in the 18th century, we see the relationship of political power and architecture. The king is the absent but implicit focal point of the architecture. The relentlessly symmetrical spaces organizing the human court as well as the physical court impose his presence. At the same time, Diderot’s magnificent Encyclopedie displays contemporary building techniques and new architectural forms, projecting 18th century designs. Several factors influenced the revival of classicism in the 18th century: the archaeological work of the Germans in Greece and the graphic depictions of Rome by Piranesi. Piranesi drew ruins overlaid with the proletarian activities of 18th century Rome, often using mysterious figures, who beckon us to explore some detail or distant vista. Everybody came to see Piranesi’s Rome: monarchs, nobility, and architects such as Robert Adam. Less-traveled people relied on Vue d’Optiques -brightly colored engravings produced to be projected by candlelight on a wall. By the 19th century, architectural images had become popular prints documenting a favorite scene, a noteworthy site, or a homeowner's vanity.