Guided tour · One artist · Venice · Rome · 1720–1778

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Rome, real and imagined, in the order he etched it: ruins, squares, prisons, temples and a fireplace.

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Works

11

Time

about 16 min

Collections

7

About this tour

Giovanni Battista Piranesi trained as an architect in Venice, then moved to Rome and etched it as no one had before: its ruins, its squares, and prisons that exist only on paper. Here are eleven of his works from seven museums, in the order he made them. At every work, look first, then discover.

We begin in Rome around 1743. Piranesi, in his early twenties, has just published his first book of etchings.

The 11 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 11

   Magnificent Architectural Space

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1743 · Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

   What is pouring water into the basin?

   A lion's head. Beside the fountain, tiny people stand and sit, dwarfed by the halls.

   His caption calls it a group of stairs leading to a rotunda for theatre. It is from his first book of etchings, published in 1743.

2. 

   Work 2 of 11

   The Tomb of Nero

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1747–48 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

   What is slithering through the ruins?

   Snakes, winding among broken stones and overgrown plants.

   It looks like pure fantasy, but the tomb was based on a real monument Piranesi had seen near Rome.

3. 

   Work 3 of 11

   View of St. Peter's Basilica and Piazza in the Vatican

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1748 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What is waiting at the front of the square?

   A coach and horses, among people out walking in their tricorn hats.

   This is an early print: the first of seven known versions of the copper plate, which was changed again and again.

4. 

   Work 4 of 11

   The Drawbridge

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · published 1749/1750 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Find the drawbridge. Who is on it?

   Two small figures, at its far end. Ropes and beams criss-cross the vast space all around them.

   From his Imaginary Prisons (Carceri), first published around 1750: vast, impossible vaults, all invented.

5. 

   Work 5 of 11

   The Piazza della Rotonda, with the Pantheon and Obelisk

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1751 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What sits on top of the Pantheon's porch?

   Two small bell towers. They were added in the 1600s and taken down in the 1880s.

   In front, a market fills the square, around a fountain topped by an Egyptian obelisk.

6. 

   Work 6 of 11

   Fundering van de Engelenburcht te Rome

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1756–57 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   How big are the people next to these stones?

   Tiny. One of them points at the blocks, which look like the work of giants.

   These are the foundations of Emperor Hadrian's tomb, today Castel Sant'Angelo. Piranesi wanted to show how the Romans built.

7. 

   Work 7 of 11

   View of the Flavian Amphitheatre, called the Colosseum

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1757 · Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

   Look through the arches of the second storey. What is inside?

   Not the arena, but broken inner walls, overgrown with plants.

   It was the largest amphitheatre of ancient Rome. For centuries its fallen stone was carted off to build palaces and churches.

8. 

   Work 8 of 11

   The Lion Bas-Reliefs

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · published 1761 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Which animal is carved into the stone below?

   A lion, carved in relief like ancient Roman sculpture. A second one hides on the left.

   This plate was new in 1761. He reworked the old ones too, with deeper shadows, more chains and more architecture.

9. 

   Work 9 of 11

   Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli

   Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1761 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

   What decorates the band above the columns?

   Garlands and ox heads, carved in stone. On top, small bushes have taken root.

   His caption says that this is only its common name: some thought it was a temple of Hercules.

10. 

    Work 10 of 11

    Chimneypiece in the Egyptian style

    Giovanni Battista Piranesi · about 1769 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

    What spreads its wings above the fire?

    Two winged sphinxes, with a lion's face between them. Above: Egyptian heads, hieroglyphs and stars.

    Piranesi championed the Egyptian style, then rare in Europe. He decorated a café in Rome, the English Coffee House, in this style.

11. 

    Work 11 of 11

    View of the Temple of Neptune

    Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1778 · SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen

    Who has come to the old temple?

    A herdsman with his pigs, resting among the fallen stones. Beside the columns, they all look small.

    The temple is Greek, about 2,500 years old. The Paestum views were his last great series.

The end of the tour

Rome, real and imagined.

Piranesi died in Rome in 1778, aged 58. His views shaped how Europe saw Rome, and his imaginary prisons have fascinated artists ever since.

Questions at the end

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• National Gallery of Art
• Rijksmuseum
• Yale University Art Gallery
• SMK – National Gallery of Denmark

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