The Architecture of the Imaginary Hendrick Aerts operated in the narrow, precise space between reality and fantasy. He was a Flemish painter and draftsman who specialized in the structural logic of buildings, yet his most significant contributions were not to existing landmarks but to the concept of the ideal. His work focused on architectural compositions—both real and imagined—populated by figures that functioned as allegories. He did not merely record space; he constructed it. His career was defined by a specific, disciplined approach to perspective and the dramatic potential of interior v…