Title page from Le Antichita Romane by Piranesi

Category

Library Item

Item no

28243

Title

Title page from Le Antichita Romane by Piranesi

Description

Piranesi's work Le Antichita Romane is in four volumes. This title page comes from volume I.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1756

Size

53.0 x 39.0 cm

Type

Engraving

Location

Art and Design Library

Le Antichita Romane by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) illustrates the interest by Italian artists in exploring their native classical antiquity contributing to the spread of knowledge of classical architecture.

Piranesi’s prints depicting the buildings of classical and postclassical Rome and its vicinity contributed to Rome’s fame and to the growth of classical archaeology and to the Neoclassical movement in art.

Piranesi went from his native Venice to study in Rome as a draughtsman for the Venetian ambassador, settling permanently in Rome in 1745. It was during this period that Piranesi developed his highly original etching technique, producing rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow by means of the intricate, repeated bitings of the copperplate.

The developing centre of the Grand Tour was Rome and Piranesi was aware of the poetic aspects of grand ruins. A distinctive feature of Piranesi's work is based on the interpretation of Classical antiquity by adding his imagination to increase the originality as illustrated in `Le Antichita Romane’ depicting the ancient ruins of Rome.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Architectural features > Architectural drawings

Sport and leisure > Activities > Reading and books

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