Architecture dominates his scenes of Rome it is overpowering, but unlike his prints of prisons, is not oppressive. This is not how the via Appia actually once looked, nor how it appeared in the 18th century, but rather Piranesi’s vision of what ancient Rome was. The image does not depict the ruinous tombs and empty landscape of his own day, but instead reimagines its ancient splendor, with innumerable funerary monuments, statues, and inscriptions piled upon one another. Piranesi’s interest in ‘capriccio’-the bringing together of discrete buildings and objects in imaginary scenes-is brilliantly realized in his drawing of the ancient Roman road, the via Appia. But taken together, and through the use of dark washes to create shadows and depth, clear and complex compositions emerge.
Piranesi roman series#
Possibly frustrated by his lack of commissions for designing actual buildings, Vowles sees these drawings as “Piranesi’s outlet.” They are works of “incredible creativity and sheer exuberance as ideas seem to be spilling out of his mind.” This sense of speed and energy comes from his technique, which at times borders on the impressionistic: Architectural elements can be little more than a series of dashes, ornament is shown with swirls, and people or statues indicated by squiggles. Here, Piranesi freely employs ornamental features modeled after ancient vases and a sarcophagus, which as Vowles observes is shown inexplicably “floating up the columns,” adding to the imaginative nature of the scene.
It comprises a monumental staircase, dotted with diminutive figures, beneath a domed interior, supported by two enormous columns. Sarah Vowles, the curator of the exhibition, points out that it is unlikely many of these drawings were made on site and that Piranesi was instead pulling such ideas from “his great mental storehouse or library.”Īnother fantastical architectural scene shows Piranesi’s mastery of depicting space–a skill that defines many of his engravings.
One drawing shows a domed structure based on Rome’s pantheon spliced with what appears to be the dome of St Peter’s basilica, although neither is an exact reproduction. Many of the architectural scenes do not faithfully reproduce particular buildings, but instead borrow different elements and combine them in new settings. There is a sense of freedom to Piranesi’s compositions in their content and execution. Indeed, Piranesi went against the common practice of making highly-detailed drawings for transfer onto copperplates (the method of engraving), remarking that, “if my drawing was finished, my plate would become only a copy.” While some are preparatory studies that were later worked up as engravings, most of the sketches are not directly relatable to known finished pieces. The majority of the drawings are architectural scenes. We see the influence that Piranesi’s training as a set designer for the theatre in Venice had on his approach to perspective vistas, and the subsequent transformative impact that his move to Rome had on the subject matter of his work. On display are examples which span Piranesi’s working life from the 1740s to 1770s. While the most recognizable of Piranesi’s works are the evocative prints of Roman ruins in 18th century landscapes and the haunting etchings of grotesque prisons, the British Museum exhibition instead focuses on 51 ink and chalk drawings in its collection, highlighting his expertise as a draftsman. This year is the 300th anniversary of Piranesi’s birth and to mark the occasion the British Museum in London is holding an exhibition, Piranesi Drawings: Visions of Antiquity. But not all architects can build, and Piranesi’s brilliance was on paper. The façade is overloaded with decorative details that break the grace of the architecture and confuse the eye. This building, the Church of Santa Maria del Priorato on the Aventine Hill in Rome, the monastery of the Knights of Malta, is not a masterpiece. Although he consistently signed his work ‘architetto,’ he is famous for his engravings of the monuments of ancient Rome, and in fact constructed only one building in his entire career. Giovanni Battista Piranesi was the greatest printmaker of the 18th century.
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