| Method | Etching |
| Artist | Giovanni Battista Piranesi |
| Published | [Rome, Bouchard and Gravier, 1756] |
| Dimensions | Image 128 x 192 mm, Plate 132 x 195 mm, Sheet 285 x 415 mm |
| Notes |
Full inscription reads: "Stanza sepolcrale scoperta, e demolita con molte altre l'anno 1746 nella Vigna Casali a Porta S. Sebastiano. Le nicchie grandi delle facciate erano dipinte a grotteschi, finte pietre di Stucchi." Figure 2 of Plate XVIII from the first volume of Piranesi's Antichità Romane, featuring a view of a Roman sepulchral chamber that was cleared along with numerous others during development near the Porta San Sebastiano in 1746, making Piranesi's etching the only record remaining for the structure. The surrounding walls, in a ruinous state, are topped with foliage that grows from cracks in the brickwork. Numerous semicircular niches give the structure the appearance of a columbarium, used to inter cremated remains in burial urns, though the scale of these niches suggest that they once contained burials or even sarcophagi. Open sarcophagi stand in the centre of the room, their broken lids piled in the foreground of the scene, while large niches in the centre of each wall contain numerous urns, and are described in the inscription as decorated with grotesques and painted stucco. Groups of well attired visitors, likely antiquarians, architects, or grand tourists, examine the ruins. The Antichità Romane ('Roman Antiquities') was Piranesi's largest, and in many ways most ambitious, series of etchings, comprising 250 plates published in 4 volumes. Unlike the Vedute di Roma, the Antichità Romane is chiefly interested in small details, though the views of principal monuments in this work are no less aesthetically pleasing than the Vedute. Piranesi's agenda as an architect, namely the revival and emulation of classical Roman models, is immediately apparent in his meticulous recording of Rome's architectural and archaeological heritage. As a result, the Antichità Romane became a critical resource for antiquarians and academics. Piranesi's detailed explanations of Roman feats of engineering challenged the emergent argument for the superiority of Classical Greek models in art and architecture. Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesi (1720 – 1778) was an Italian artist famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric "prisons" (the Carceri d'Invenzione). He was a major Italian printmaker, architect and antiquarian. The son of a Venetian master builder, he studied architecture and stage design, through which he became familiar with Illusionism. During the 1740's, when Rome was emerging as the centre of Neoclassicism, Piranesi began his lifelong obsession with the city's architecture. He was taught to etch by Giuseppe Vasi and this became the medium for which he was best known. Wilton-Ely 313, F178, C18.2 Condition: Clean, dark impression with full margins. Minor foxing to edges of sheet, not affecting plate. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £200.00 |
| Stock ID | 52582 |