Frontispiece to the Views of Rome (Vedute di Roma): Ruins with Statue of Minerva
Maker
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
(Italian, 1720-1778)
Dateplate circa 1748, impression circa 1778 - 1807
MediumEtching
DimensionsPlate: 19-5/8 x 24-15/16 in. (49.9 x 63.4 cm)
Matted: 71.1 x 91.4 cm (28 x 36 in.)
Matted: 71.1 x 91.4 cm (28 x 36 in.)
Credit LineGift of Collection of Edward A. and Inge Maser in honor of Kimerly Rorschach
Collections
Object number2004.41
Status
Not on viewPiranesi is one of the outstanding eighteenth-century Italian artists who worked extensively for British Grand Tourists. His monumental Vedute di Roma, an ensemble of 135 etchings produced over thirty years, responded to tourists’ hunger for images of Rome in all its ancient splendor and ruin. These prints also helped to disseminate knowledge of antiquity for those who could not travel to Italy, at a moment when archaeological discoveries at Herculaneum and Pompeii had greatly increased curiosity on the subject. Characteristic of Piranesi is the grand, fantastical interpretation of the classical past, melding careful attention to archaeological detail with a proto-Romantic sensibility of disorder and decay.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
circa 1870 - 1946 (restrike)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1765 (1766 engraved in plate)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1761
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
1763
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
circa 1870 - 1946 (restrike)
Hind says ¿1775 (error for 1757?)¿