![]() Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Seven columns with Corinthian capitals from the Temple of Juturna, largely buried in the modern plan of Rome, (1756) engraving, 53.9 x 41.4 cm. His engravings were described by him as 'capricious inventions', a term he used to indicate the imaginative character of his creations. The works of Piranesi, whom the famous French writer Marguerite Yourcenar described as a 'black mind', are imbued with drama and melancholy, characteristics that make him a forerunner of the Romantic spirit, despite the fact that his main source of inspiration was Classicism revisited in a Rococo key. Related: Rococo: The Art of Shells & Idylls In a short time, he achieved great success and his fortune was consolidated under the pontificate of Clement XIII, who became his patron and protector. Between 1756 and the following year, he published his best-known collection, the Antichità Romane ('Roman Antiquities'), divided into four volumes. In the meantime, he opened his studio in Via del Corso, opposite the Academy of France. Batta Piranesi, Venetian architect', which was followed by the first edition of Carceri d'invenzione ('Prisons of invention') in 1745 and Vedute di Roma ('Views of Rome'), a collection published from 1748 to 1778. Public domain imageĪfter a few apprenticeships, in which he learnt etching techniques, in 1743 he produced his first collection of plates entitled 'First part of architectures and perspectives invented and engraved by Gio. ![]() ![]() Related: The Enduring Appeal of Old Masters Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Prisons of Invention, 1761, 54.8 x 41.5 cm. Piranesi was struck by the marvels of Rome and by what he was moved to define 'speaking ruins': 'speaking ruins that I could never form over the drawings, albeit very accurate, that the immortal Palladio made of them, which I always kept before my eyes.' In 1740, disappointed by the few job opportunities in the Veneto region, the young Piranesi decided to leave for the Eternal City, joining the diplomatic expedition of the Venetian ambassador Francesco Vernier as a draughtsman. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Cestia Pyramid, engraving, 1700s, from the Views of Rome. He then continued his education with architect Giovanni Scalfarotto and in the workshop of Carlo Zucchi. His brother, a Dominican friar, introduced him to the study of Latin but above all to a passion for the history of Rome, which was to have an enormous influence on his artistic production. His father, a stonecutter and master builder, introduced him to architecture, following the models of Andrea Palladio and Vitruvius, with his maternal uncle Matteo Lucchesi, a water magistrate of the Serenissima and a lover of antiquity. Over three hundred years ago, on October 4, 1720, one of the greatest architects, engravers and architectural theorists of the 18th century came into the world in Venice: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, also known as Giambattista Piranesi.
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