Giovanni Battista Piranesi engravings in excellent quality. Paper Prisons by Giovanni Piranesi
Giovanni Battista Piranesi was born on October 4, 1720 in Mogliano Veneto, into the family of a stone carver.
Education
In his youth, Piranesi devoted himself to work in his father's workshop. Subsequently, he began to study architecture with his uncle, engineer and architect Matteo Lucchesi, and later with the architect Giovanni Scalfarotto, who was guided in his work by the famous Andrea Palladio, the founder of Palladianism in architecture. Piranesi takes engraving lessons from the engraver Carlo Zucchi, brother of the famous painter Antonio Zucchi, and is actively engaged in self-education, studying treatises on architecture and works of ancient authors.
In 1740, Piranesi left Mogliano Veneto for Rome and there got a job as a graphic designer at the residence of the Venetian ambassador in Rome. During this time, he studied the engravings of Giuseppe Vasi, a master of the vedata (a genre of European painting), and the art of metal engraving.
First works
Piranesi's first works were the engravings “Various Views of Rome” (Varie Vedute di Roma), 1741. and “The First Part of Architecture and Perspective”, (Prima Parte di architettura e Prospettive), 1743, are executed in the style of Giuseppe Vasi, with a spectacular play of shadow and light. Piranesi combines both real-life architectural works and fictional ones in his engravings.
In 1745, Piranesi published in Rome a series of engravings, “Fantasies on the Theme of Prisons” (Piranesi G.B. Carceri d’ Invenzione), which later became a great success. It was no coincidence that the word “fantasy” was used in the title of the series - this was the so-called “paper architecture”, not embodied in reality
Piranesi perfected his skills by studying the engravings of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and the works of the painter Canaletto Giovanni Antonio. Their influence is felt in the following works of Piranesi - “Views of Rome” (Vedute di Roma), 1746-1748, “Grotesque” (Grotteschi), 1747-1749, Prisons (Carceri), 1749-1750.
English cafe
In 1760, Piranesi decorated the English Cafe (Babingtons), in Rome on the Piazza di Spagna, trying to express his own idea that architecture without diversity would be reduced to craft.
Church of Santa Maria del Priorato
The main architectural work of Piranesi is the church of Santa Maria del Priorato, designed by him, built in 1764 - 1765. The temple is an example of neoclassicism in architecture. The dimensions of the building are 31 by 13 m. The church is an integral part of the residence of the Order of Malta.
In 1765, in Rome, according to the design of Piranesi, the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta was built, which, like the Church of Santa Maria del Priorato located on it, also belongs to the Order of Malta.
In 1765, in Rome, according to the design of Piranesi, the Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta was built, which, like the Church of Santa Maria del Priorato located on it, also belongs to the Order of Malta.
The most significant works of Piranesi:
1. Series of engravings “Fantasies on the Theme of Prisons” (Piranesi G.B. Carceri d’ Invenzione), 1745;
2. Series of engravings “Views of Rome” (Vedute di Roma), 1746-1748;
3. Series of engravings “Grotesque” (Grotteschi), 1747-1749;
4. Series of engravings “Prison” (Carceri), 1749-1750.
5. English cafe (Babingtons), Rome, Piazza di Spagna, 1760;
Alexandra Lorenz
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Giambattista Piranesi; 1720-1778) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, engraver, draftsman, master of architectural landscapes. Born on October 4, 1720 in Mogliano near Mestre. He studied in Venice with his father, who was a mason, with his uncle, an engineer and architect, and with some other masters. From 1740 to 1744 he studied engraving techniques with Giuseppe Vasi and Felice Polanzani in Rome; there in 1743 he published his first series of engravings, The First Part of Architectural and Perspective Constructions (La parte prima di Architetture e Prospettive). Then he returned to Venice for a short time, and from 1745 settled permanently in Rome. By the end of his life (he died on November 9, 1778), Piranesi became one of the most famous citizens of Rome. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of Romantic artists and, later, on the surrealists.
Here is the Marcello Theater (Teatro di Marcello):
This is the modern look:
The big difference in the preservation of the building is immediately noticeable. Has it really become so worn out in less than 3 centuries? While it previously stood in excellent condition for more than a thousand years?
Let us immediately note that we are rediscovering what was obvious in the 1750s. The first floor of the building is covered with sand. Giovanni writes: “The 1st floor of the theater is half visible, but previously it and the one above it were the same in height”
Something else is also striking. The graph confidently depicts the underground part of the theater, a powerful foundation. Here is the second picture:
Here Piranesi draws in sufficient detail the structure of the foundation of the Theater. Was he doing an excavation? From the image it can be judged that such a drawing requires not only excavation, but also dismantling of part of the building.
This means that Jovania used more ancient sources when constructing his images. The ones we don't have.
I draw your attention to the design details:
The famous "nipples" on the blocks. Just like in South America!
Precision manufacturing of cycloscopic blocks.
The unprecedented power of the structure. By our standards, it is unjustified. Studying the architecture of Rome, I cannot get rid of this thought - everything is done very firmly, reliably, accurately. Construction costs are incredible!
The builders of Rome had deep knowledge of strength of materials. Here and in other drawings that I will post in the future, you can see how the masonry with huge blocks repeats the load diagrams. Such “cunning tricks” are not available to modern construction.
A pile base is used. I don’t dare to evaluate such a solution under stone buildings, but perhaps it was the piles, being a “cushion,” that protected the building from strong earthquakes. And they didn’t rot?!
Complex figured grooves, channels, protrusions, “dovetails” - all this indicates that the blocks were made by casting or another plasticization method.
As elsewhere in Rome, the internal cavities of the walls are filled with rubble and crushed stone.
The first thing that catches your eye is the super-powerful foundations of buildings and structures. For example, this bridge:
Any architect or builder will tell you: “They don’t build like that now. It’s expensive, it’s not rational, it’s not necessary.”
This is not a bridge, but some kind of pyramid! How many stone blocks? How difficult it is to make them. How powerfully they are held together. How exactly. How much labor, transport work, calculations are needed. Eighteen exclamation points. And even more questions.
Here are the ancient walls and foundations:
Impressive? Why such power? Defend against a cannonball or a bronze-tipped log?
Here is beauty, a diagram of stress in stone. Famous “nipples”, incredible precision of fit. The high culture of construction and knowledge in the field of strength materials is amazing.
And here is our favorite bridge:
It still stands - a bridge built by Emperor Aelius Adriano:
It looks like an ordinary bridge. What is his basis?
When compared, the changed water level immediately catches the eye. All grandiose structures remained hidden from view.
I would also like to draw your attention to the mountains of sand in Giovanni’s drawing. “D is sand deposited during the time...” I have never been able to find a translation for this mysterious word. And Italian friends could not help. What times are these? I think the word was changed on purpose. So that it cannot be translated. Or all mention of these times has been completely erased from history.
Another mystery.
Here is a drawing of the bridge support. Why such power? And pay attention to the fact that the blocks are fastened together. And again a pillow made of piles.
Here is another bridge. The same powerful single structure of the bridge supports with its body and a common foundation below.
It seems that the builders were faced with the task of withstanding powerful earthquakes. It is obvious that our planet during these times, when it was rapidly expanding, was subject to very strong seismic activity. Perhaps the flows of water and mudflows as a result of titanic downpours or the melting of enormous quantities of snow and ice in the mountains had a crushing force.
Of course, the power of the construction industry that was at their disposal is also striking. Against the background of these drawings, the construction of the Trojan shafts, the Serpent shafts and the pyramids becomes more clear. I don’t believe that it was possible to build something like this only using the draft power of livestock and slaves.
I would like to draw your attention to the configuration of the blocks that make up the steps of the amphitheaters:
Well, I would like to note again: Giovanni Piranesi had access to certain archives where construction drawings of these ancient structures were kept. I believe that one should also look there for drawings of the Cologne Cathedral, Notre Dame Cathedral and other temples, to the builders of which “one night the devil whispered how to build a temple”)))))
And you most likely need to look for these documents in the Vatican. Because the church at one time wanted to appropriate for itself the fruits of the labor of a “different” civilization. She later said that it was dad so-and-so who laid the first stone in the foundation of the temple. Weighing 600 tons!
It is in the Vatican vaults that answers to many mysteries await us! Surely, books from the “burnt” libraries of the world ended up there.
“Piranesi. Before and after. Italy - Russia. XVIII-XXI centuries." Part I
From September 20 to November 13, the Pushkin Museum hosted the exhibition “Piranesi. Before and after. Italy - Russia. XVIII-XXI centuries."
The exhibition includes more than 100 etchings of the master, engravings and drawings of his predecessors and followers, casts, coins and medals, books, as well as cork models from the collection of the Scientific Research Museum at the Russian Academy of Arts, graphic sheets from the Cini Foundation (Venice), Scientific Research Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev, the Museum of the History of the Moscow Architectural School at the Moscow Architectural Institute, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, the International Architectural Charitable Foundation named after Yakov Chernikhov. For the first time, the Russian viewer will be offered engraving boards by Piranesi, provided by the Central Institute of Graphics (Roman Calcography). In total, about 400 works were exhibited at the exhibition. The exhibition covers a much wider range of issues and goes far beyond the boundaries of the artist’s own work. "Before" are Piranesi's predecessors, as well as his immediate teachers; “After” - artists and architects of the late 18th-19th centuries, up to the 21st century.
White Hall 
The White Hall is dedicated to Antiquity. Piranesi spent his entire life exploring ancient Rome, giving the world a number of major archaeological discoveries. For the first time, Russian visitors will be able to see sheets from the master’s most important theoretical works, primarily the four-volume work “Roman Antiquities” (1756) and others. Piranesi described the surviving monuments of ancient Rome, reconstructed the topography of the ancient city, and captured the disappearing remains of ancient monuments.
Piranesi was not only a tireless engraver-researcher, but also an enterprising man who successfully used his talent and knowledge for commercial purposes. From the second half of the 1760s, he took part in excavations and began to recreate monuments of ancient art, selling them along with engravings.
Pope Clement XIII and other members of the Rezzonico family patronized Piranesi, encouraging his creative ideas. In addition to the grandiose, never realized project of 1760 to rebuild the altar and the western part of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, in 1764-1766 Piranesi reconstructed the Church of the Order of Malta Santa Maria del Piorato on the Avetina Hill in Rome, and also designed a number of interiors in the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo and his successors - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Rezzonico and Senator of Rome Abbondio Rezzonico.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Portrait of Pope Clement XIII. Frontispiece for the series “On the greatness and architecture of the Romans...” 1761 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Ursns, tombstones and vases at the Villa Corsini." . Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The engraving depicts funerary urns, steles, and tombstones found in the gardens of Villa Corsini behind Porta San Pancrazio in Rome (Trastevere district). It is believed that Piranesi used the motif of alternating funerary urns and steles when designing the fence of the Church of the Order of Malta, Santa Maria del Piorato. This church is the only building built by Piranesi.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Interior view of the tomb of Lucius Arruntius. Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The tomb of Lucius Arruntius is a complex of three columbariums, rooms with semicircular niches for storing urns with the ashes of slaves and descendants of the statesman, consul of the 6th year, historian Lucius Arruntius. The burial was discovered in 1736, and in the 19th century the tomb was completely destroyed.
Tombstone of Lucius Volumnius Hercules Tinted gypsum, mold casting Original: marble, 1st century, stored in the Lateran Museum, Rome Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin
Altar-shaped tombstones were very popular in the funerary rites of Italy during the early imperial period. The original is made from a single block of marble with relief decorations on the pediment and sides. The upper part of the tombstone is designed in the form of a pillow with two cushions, the curls of which are decorated with rosettes. In the central part of the semicircular pediment there is a wreath with garlands.
On the front edge of the tombstone, an inscription is carved in a frame with a dedication to the gods of the underworld - manna - and a mention of the name of the deceased and his age; underneath is a mask of the gorgon Medusa, framed by figures of swans. At the corners of the monument there are ram masks, under which there are images of eagles. The side parts of the tombstone are decorated with garlands of leaves and fruits hanging from ram's horns.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "View of the Ancient Via Appevo". Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
One of the main themes in Piranesi's art is the theme of the greatness of ancient Roman architecture. Much of this greatness was achieved through engineering skills. The engraving shows a preserved paved section of the ancient Via Apia, the Queen of Roads, as the Romans called it.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Title page to volume II “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
In his work “Roman Antiquities,” Piranesi showed an increased interest in funerary structures. In the study of tombs containing numerous works of art, the artist saw the path to the revival of the greatness of Rome and its culture. Before Piranesi, Pietro Santi Bartoli, Pier Leon Ghezzi and others turned to the study and documentation of ancient Roman tombs. Their writings had a significant influence on the artist, but Piranesi goes beyond simply recording the external and internal appearance of the tombs. His compositions are full of dynamics and drama.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Tomb located in a vineyard on the road to Tivoli." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The engraving shows a tomb located in a vineyard on the road to Tivoli. The artist demonstrates the appearance of the tomb, depicting it in the foreground from a low point of view. Thanks to this, the structure stands out against the background of the landscape and rises above the viewer.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Large sarcophagus and candelabra from the Mausoleum of St. Constance in Rome." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The engraving shows the sarcophagus and candelabra found in the mausoleum of Constantia (c. 318-354), daughter of Emperor Constantine the Great. Piranesi reproduced one of the sides of the porforated sarcophagus with the image of vines and Cupids crushing grapes. The side of the lid is decorated with a mask of Silenus and a garland. As Piranesi noted, the marble candelabra served as a model for artists in the 15th century, and remains a model for lovers of beauty. Currently, the sarcophagus and candelabra are kept in the Pio Clementina Museum in Rome.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Part of the façade of the tomb of Caecilia Metella." Sheet from the suite “Views of Rome” 1762 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
Piranesi fairly accurately reproduced the upper part of the tomb of Caecilia Metella with a dilapidated cornice and frieze decorated with bull skulls and garlands. The name of the buried woman is inscribed on the marble slab: Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus of Crete, wife of Crassus.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Tomb of Caecilia Metella". Sheet from the suite “Views of Rome” 1762 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Plan, facade, vertical section and details of masonry of the tomb of Caecilia Metella." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
Several engravings in the series are dedicated to the tomb of Caecilia Metella. The massive cylindrical structure was erected around 50 BC. on the Appian Way near Rome. In the Middle Ages, it was turned into a castle with a battlement in the form of “swallow tails” built on top. For a detailed depiction of the monument, Piranesi used a two-tier compositional scheme, borrowed from Pietro Santi Bartolli from the book Ancient Tombs (1697)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Equipments for lifting large traventine stones used in the construction of the tomb of Caecilia Metella." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin.
Piranesi's engraving shows metal devices for lifting massive stone slabs, one of which was familiar to Piranesi's contemporaries under the name "ulivella". It was believed that Vitruvius wrote about it in the 1st century BC under the name “tanaglia”, and in the 15th century it was rediscovered by another architect - Filippo Bruneleschi. According to Piranesi, the instruments of Vitruvius and Bruneleschi differ from each other and the advantage was with the ancient one, which was easier to use
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "The underground part of the foundation of the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The engraving shows the underground part of the foundation of Hadrian's Mausoleum (Castle Sant'Angelo). The artist significantly exaggerated the size of the structure, depicting only part of a giant vertical projection (buttress). The artist admires the regularity and beauty of the ancient masonry, revealing the plasticity of the stones with the help of sharp light and shadow contrasts.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi “View of the bridge and mausoleum. erected by Emperor Hadrian." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The Mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian (Castle Sant'Angelo) more than once became the object of close attention of Piranesi. The tomb was built under Emperor Hadrian around 134-138. The ashes of many representatives of the imperial house rested here. In X, the building came into the possession of the patrician of the Crescenzi family, who turned the tomb into a fortress. In the 13th century, under Pope Nicholas III, the castle was connected to the Vatican Palace and became a papal citadel. A prison was set up in the lower rooms.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Mausoleum and Bridge of Emperor Hadrian." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
This large sheet consists of 2 prints, conceived as a single unit and printed from 2 boards.
Left side. The artist showed a cross-section of the bridge with an underground part and carefully reproduced the underground masonry. He gives interesting details about the construction of the bridge supports: it was believed that Hadrian either directed the Tiber into a different channel, or blocked its channel with a palisade, allowing it to flow on one side. Piranesi admired the strength of the structure, which could withstand frequent floods. The 3 central arched openings show the water level in the Tiber depending on the season (from left to right V) December, June and August. It is interesting that the artist supplemented the technical drawing with landscape elements with views of the banks of the Tiber.
The right side shows the wall of the mausoleum and its underground part. As Piranesi writes, the mausoleum “was covered with rich marbles, decorated with numerous statues depicting people, horses, chariots and other, the most valuable sculptures that Hadrian collected on his journey through the Roman Empire; now, stripped ˂…˃of all its decorations ˂…˃, it looks like a large shapeless mass of masonry.” At a later time, the upper part of the mausoleum (A-B) was lined with brick. The artist also suggested that the height of the mausoleum tower is 3 times the height of the foundation (F-G). Piranesi paid great attention to the underground part of the structure, built from rows of tuff, traventine and fragments of stone, reinforced with buttresses and special arches (M).
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Entrance to the upper room of the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian." Sheet from the series “Roman Antiquities” 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin.
The entrance leading to the upper room of the mausoleum of Emperor Andrian is depicted. In the 16th-17th centuries it was used for court sessions and was called the Hall of Justice. The entrance is made of huge blocks of travestine stone, so powerful and durable that Piranesi compared them with the famous Egyptian pyramids. As the artist noted, the arch is excellently reinforced on the sides, since it is forced to withstand the enormous weight of the masonry located above it. The protrusions that were used to lift blocks during construction are clearly visible on the stone.
In 1762, a new work by Pironesi was published, dedicated to the topography of the Campus Martius - the middle of ancient Rome - a vast territory on the left bank of the Tiber, bordered by the Capitol, Quirinal and Pincio Hill. This theoretical work consisted of a text based on classical sources; and 50 engravings, including a huge topographic map of the Campus Martius, “Iconography” with which Piranesi began work on the collection.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Iconography" or plan of the Campus Martius of ancient Rome. 1757 Sheet from the series “The Field of Mars of Ancient Rome,” the work of G.B. Piranesi, member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London. 1762" Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
In 1757, Piranesi engraved a huge reconstruction map of the Campus Martius during the late empire. This idea was suggested to the artist by the ancient monumental plan of ancient Rome, carved on marble slabs under Emperor Septimius Severus in 201-0211. A fragment of this plan was discovered in 1562 and was kept in the Capitoline Museum during the time of Piranesi. Piranesi dedicated the plan to the Scottish architect Robert Adam, a friend of the artist. It is believed that it was Adam who convinced him to begin work on the composition of “The Field of Mars” from this map, the most important work of the master, which became “An Anthology of Architectural Ideas!”, which excited the imagination of architects until the 21st century.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Capitol Stones...1762" Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The title page is made in the form of a stone slab with the name carved on it in Latin. The slab is decorated with reliefs pointing to the glorious past of Rome and its rulers. At the top, among the mythological characters are the founders of the city - Romulus and Remus, and the ancient coins depict major statesmen - Julius Caesar, Lucius Brutus, Emperor Octavian Augustus. Piranesi uses decorative motifs traditional to ancient Roman art: garlands of laurel branches, cornucopia, rams' heads. The same motives appear in Piranesi’s designs for applied items.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi “Theatres Balba, Marcellus, amphitheater Statia Taurus, Pantheon” from the series “Campus of Mars”...1762” Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
Piranesi reconstructs the densely built-up neighborhoods of the ancient Campus Martius from a bird's eye view.
The top engraving on the left shows a stone theater built by Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger, a Roman general and playwright in 13 BC. On the right is another theater building - the Theater of Marcellus, the second stone theater in Rome (after the Theater of Pompey)
The middle engraving shows the famous Pantheon and the gardens behind it, the artificial lake and the Baths of Agrippa.
Below is the first stone amphitheater in Rome, built in 29 BC, in the square in front of it there is a sundial installed by order of Emperor Augustus. These reconstructions had a powerful impact on the formation of architecture; in particular, they significantly influenced the consciousness of Soviet architects of the 20th century.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi “Marble tablets with lists of Roman consuls and triumphs” sheets for the series “Capitolian Stones” Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
The engraving shows preserved marble tablets with a list of Roman consuls and triumphs from the founding of Rome to the reign of Emperor Tiberius (14-37). From the inscription carved on the top slab it follows that in ancient times the tablets were installed in the Roman Forum.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi “Examples of Roman Ionic capitals in comparison with Greek, righteous ones by Le Roy” sheets for the series “On the greatness and architecture of the Romans” 1761 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin
This sheet is a visual response to Piranesi's essay by J.D. Le Roy "Ruins of the most beautiful monuments of Greece" 1758. Piranesi
Giovanni Batista Piranesi (1720 - 1778) an outstanding Italian graphic artist, architect and archaeologist. His monumental explorations of the Eternal City were expressed in approximately two thousand pictorial works. Thus, the artist created a series of etchings “Antiquities of Rome” over a quarter of a century. Piranesi devoted his entire life to “Views of Rome.”
Piranesi's drawings preserved authentic Rome of the 18th century. Since childhood, amazed by the beauty of architecture (Piranesi’s father was a stonemason, his uncle was an artist), Giovanni Batista dreamed of realizing himself as an architect. He signed almost every work of his “Venetian architect.” All the more striking is the paradox of his life - he designed only one building. The Church of Santa Maria Aventina was rebuilt according to his drawings. Therefore, his name is associated with the concept of “paper architecture”. Later the church was renamed Santa Maria del Priorato, in which the artist was buried.
However, the cycle “Fantastic Images of Prisons” stands apart in his work. Colossal and majestic, these phantasmagoric structures should keep the prisoner in the labyrinth of their passages more reliably than any castles. Anyone who decides to describe a mysterious dungeon that leaves the prisoner in awe must turn to the artistic heritage of Piranesi. As Umberto Eco did, for example, when describing the labyrinth library in the novel “The Name of the Rose.” And recently Piranesi was remembered on the pages of DARKER in a review of.
And here is what Thomas de Quincey writes in “”:
« Many years ago, when I was looking at Piranesi’s “Roman Antiquities,” Mr. Coleridge, who was standing nearby, described to me the engravings of the same artist [...] They depicted pictures of the visions that the artist had in his feverish delirium. Some of these engravings […] depicted spacious Gothic halls in which various types of machines and mechanisms, wheels and chains, gears and levers, catapults, etc. were piled up - an expression of overturned resistance and force put into action. Groping your way along the walls, you begin to make out a staircase and on it - Piranesi himself, making his way up; following him, you suddenly discover that the staircase suddenly ends and its end, devoid of a balustrade, does not allow those who have reached the edge to step anywhere except the abyss that opens below. I don’t know what will happen to poor Piranesi, but it is at least obvious that his work has to some extent come to an end here. However, lift your gaze and look at that span that hangs even higher - and again you will find Piranesi, now standing on the very edge of the abyss. But you see a new weightless platform, and again the unfortunate Piranesi is busy with high work - and so on, until the endless stairs, together with their creator, drown under the gloomy arches. The same uncontrollable self-expansion continued in my dreams».
In total, Giovanni Batista Piranesi created 16 boards with images of incredible prisons. The first publication of this series took place in 1749. 10 years later, the artist completed an almost new series on the same boards.
VIII - Porch decorated with trophies ()
X - Prisoners on the platform ()
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
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Biography and creativity.
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Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Giambattista Piranesi; 1720-1778) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, engraver, draftsman, master of architectural landscapes. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of artists of the romantic style and - later - on the surrealists.
Gianbattista Piranesi born October 4, 1720 in Mogliano Veneto(near the city Treviso), in the family of a stonecutter. Real family name Piranese(from the name of the place Pirano d'Istria, where stone for buildings was supplied from) acquired the sound " Piranesi".
His father was a stone carver, and in his youth Piranesi worked in my father's workshop L'Orbo Celega on the Grand Canal, which carried out orders from the architect D. Rossi. Studied architecture from his uncle, an architect and engineer Matteo Lucchesi, as well as from the architect J. A. Scalfarotto. He studied the techniques of perspectival painters, took lessons in engraving and perspective painting from Carlo Zucchi, famous engraver, author of a treatise on optics and perspective (brother of the painter Antonio Zucchi); He independently studied treatises on architecture, read the works of ancient authors (his mother’s brother, the abbot, got him into reading). In the circle of interests of the young Piranesi also included history and archaeology.
As an artist, he was significantly influenced by art Vedutistov, very popular in the mid-18th century in Venice.
In 1740 he left forever Veneto and from that time on he lived and worked in Rome. Piranesi came to the Eternal City as an engraver and graphic designer as part of the embassy delegation of Venice. He was supported by the ambassador himself Marco Foscarini, senator Abbondio Rezzonico, nephew of the "Venetian Pope" Clement XIII Rezzonico- Prior of the Order of Malta, as well as the “Venetian Pope” himself; the most ardent admirer of talent Piranesi, became a collector of his works Lord Carlemont. Piranesi independently improved himself in drawing and engraving, worked in Palazzo di Venezia, residence of the Venetian ambassador in Rome; studied engravings J. Vazi. In a workshop Giuseppe Vasi young Piranesi studied the art of metal engraving. From 1743 to 1747 he lived mostly in Venice, where, among other things, he worked with Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
Piranesi was a highly educated person, but unlike Palladio did not write treatises on architecture. A certain role in the formation of style Piranesi played Jean Laurent Le Gue(1710-1786), famous French draftsman and architect, who worked in Rome from 1742, close to the circle of students French Academy in Rome, with whom he himself was friendly Piranesi.
In Rome Piranesi became a passionate collector: his workshop in Palazzo Tomati on Strada Felice, full of antique marbles, was described by many travelers. He was interested in archaeology, participated in the measurements of ancient monuments, and sketched found works of sculpture and decorative art. He loved to make their reconstruction, like the famous one he compiled Warwick Crater(now in the collection of the Burrell Museum, near Glasgow), which was acquired in the form of separate fragments from a Scottish painter G. Hamilton, who was also interested in excavations.
First known works - a series of engravings Prima Parte di architettura e Prospettive(1743) and Varie Vedute di Roma(1741) - bore the imprint of the manner of engravings J. Vazi with strong effects of light and shadow, highlighting the dominant architectural monument and at the same time the techniques of master set designers Veneto, who used "angular perspective". In the spirit of Venetian capricci Piranesi combined in engravings real-life monuments and his imaginary reconstructions (frontispiece from the series Vedute di Roma- Fantasy ruins with a statue of Minerva in the center; series title Carceri; View of Agrippa's Pantheon, Interior of Villa Maecenas, Ruins of the sculpture gallery at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli- series Vedute di Roma).
In 1743 Piranesi published his first series of engravings in Rome. The collection of large engravings enjoyed great success Piranesi « Grotesques" (1745) and a series of sixteen sheets " Fantasies on prison themes"(1745; 1761). The word “fantasy” is not accidental here: in these works Piranesi paid tribute to the so-called paper, or imaginary, architecture. In his engravings, he imagined and showed fantastic architectural structures that were impossible to realize in reality.
In 1744, due to a difficult financial situation, he was forced to return to Venice. He improved his engraving technique by studying the works of J.B. Tiepolo, Canaletto, M. Ricci, the manner of which influenced his subsequent editions in Rome - Vedute di Roma (1746-1748), Grotteschi (1747-1749), Carceri(1749-1750). Famous engraver J. Wagner offered Piranesi to be his agent in Rome, and he again went to the Eternal City.
In 1756, after a long study of the monuments Ancient Rome, participation in excavations, published a fundamental work Le Antichita Romane(in 4 volumes) with financial support Lord Carlemont. It emphasized the greatness and significance of the role of Roman architecture for ancient and subsequent European culture. A series of engravings was devoted to the same topic - the pathos of Roman architecture. Della magnificenza ed architettura dei romani(1761) with dedication to the Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico. Piranesi It also emphasized the contribution of the Etruscans to the creation of ancient Roman architecture, their engineering talent, sense of the structure of monuments, and functionality. Similar position Piranesi caused irritation among supporters of the greatest contribution of the Greeks to ancient culture, who relied on the works of French authors Le Roy, Cordemoy, Abbot Laugier, Comte de Queylus. The main exponent of the pan-Greek theory was the famous French collector P. J. Mariette, who spoke at Gazette Litterere del'Europe with objections to views Piranesi. In literary work Parere su l'architettura (1765) Piranesi answered him, explaining his position. Heroes of the artist's work Protopiro and Didaskallo argue like Marietta and Piranesi. To the mouth Didaskallo Piranesi put in an important idea that in architecture everything should not be reduced to dry functionality. "Everything should be according to reason and truth, but this threatens to reduce everything to huts" , - wrote Piranesi. The hut was an example of functionality in the works Carlo Lodoli, an enlightened Venetian abbot whose works he studied Piranesi. Dialogue of heroes Piranesi reflected the state of architectural theory in the 2nd half. XVIII century Variety and imagination should be preferred, he believed Piranesi. These are the most important principles of architecture, which is based on the proportionality of the whole and its parts, and its task is to meet the modern needs of people.
In 1757 the architect became a member Royal Society of Antiquaries of London. In 1761 for labor Magnificenza ed architettura dei romani Piranesi was admitted as a member St. Luke's Academy; received from dad in 1767 Clement XIII Rezzonico title" cavagliere".
The idea that without diversity architecture will be reduced to a craft Piranesi expressed in his subsequent works - decor English cafe(1760s) in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome, where he introduced elements of Egyptian art, and in a series of engravings Diverse maniere d'adornare I cammini(1768, also known as Vasi, candelabri, cippi...). The latter was carried out with the financial support of Senator A. Rezzonico. In the preface to this series Piranesi wrote that the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans - all made a significant contribution to world culture and enriched architecture with their discoveries. Projects for the decoration of fireplaces, lamps, furniture, clocks became the arsenal from which Empire architects borrowed decorative elements for interior decoration.
In 1763 dad Clementius III instructed Piranesi building a choir in a church San Giovanni in Laterano. Main job Piranesi in the field of real, “stone” architecture was the reconstruction of the church Santa Maria Aventina (1764-1765).
In the 1770s Piranesi also carried out measurements of temples Paestum and made corresponding sketches and engravings, which after the artist's death were published by his son Francesco.
U J.B. Piranesi had its own vision of the role of an architectural monument. Like a master of the century Enlightenment he thought of it in a historical context, dynamically, in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio loved to combine different time layers of the life of architecture Eternal City. The idea that a new style is born from the architectural styles of the past, the importance of diversity and imagination in architecture, that the architectural heritage receives a new appreciation over time, Piranesi expressed by building a church Santa Maria del Priorato(1764-1766) in Rome on Aventine Hill. It was erected by order of the Prior of the Order of Malta, Senator A. Rezzonico and became one of the major monuments of Rome during neoclassicism. Picturesque architecture Palladio, baroque scenography Borromini, the lessons of Venetian perspectivists - everything came together in this talented creation Piranesi, which became a kind of “encyclopedia” of elements of antique decor. A facade overlooking the square, consisting of an arsenal of antique details, reproduced, as in engravings, in a strict frame; the decoration of the altar, also oversaturated with them, looks like collages made up of “quotations” taken from ancient decor (bucranias, torches, trophies, mascarons, etc.). For the first time, the artistic heritage of the past appeared so clearly in the historical assessment of the architect’s age Enlightenment, teaching it to his contemporaries freely and clearly and with a touch of didactics.
Drawings J.B. Piranesi not as numerous as his engravings. The museum has the largest collection of them. J. Soana in London. Piranesi he worked in various techniques - sanguine, Italian pencil, combined drawings with Italian pencil and pen, ink, adding washes with a bistre brush. He sketched ancient monuments, details of their decor, united them in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio, and depicted scenes from modern life. His drawings showed the influence of Venetian masters-perspectivists, the style J.B. Tiepolo. In the drawings of the Venetian period, pictorial effects dominate; in Rome, it became more important for him to convey the clear structure of the monument and the harmony of its forms. The drawings of the villa were executed with great inspiration Adriana V Tivoli which he called " a place for the soul", sketches Pompeii, made in the later years of creativity. Modern reality and the life of ancient monuments are combined in the sheets into a single poetic story about the eternal movement of history, about the connection between the past and the present.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Italian: Giambattista Piranesi; October 4, 1720, Mogliano Veneto (near the city of Treviso) - November 9, 1778, Rome) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, master of architectural landscapes. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of artists of the romantic style and - later - on the surrealists. He made a large number of drawings and drawings, but erected few buildings, which is why the concept of “paper architecture” is associated with his name.
Born into a family of stonemasons. He learned the basics of Latin and classical literature from his older brother Angelo. He learned the basics of architecture while working in the Venice magistrate under the guidance of his uncle. As an artist, he was significantly influenced by the art of the Vedutistes, very popular in the mid-18th century in Venice.
In 1740 he went to Rome as a graphic designer as part of the embassy delegation of Marco Foscarini. In Rome, he enthusiastically studied ancient architecture. Along the way, he learned the art of metal engraving in the workshop of Giuseppe Vasi. In 1743-1747 he lived mostly in Venice, where, among other things, he worked with Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.
In 1743 he published his first series of engravings in Rome, entitled “The first part of architectural sketches and perspectives, conceived and engraved by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Venetian architect.” In it you can see the main signs of his style - the desire and ability to depict monumental and difficult-to-comprehend architectural compositions and spaces. Some sheets of this small series are similar to engravings of Piranesi's most famous series, Fantastic Images of Dungeons.
For the next 25 years, until his death, he lived in Rome; created a huge number of engravings and etchings, depicting mainly architectural and archaeological finds associated with ancient Rome, and views of the famous places of the Rome that surrounded the artist. Piranesi's performance, like his skill, is incomprehensible. He conceives and carries out a multi-volume edition of etchings under the general title “Roman Antiquities”, containing images of architectural monuments of ancient Rome, capitals of columns of ancient buildings, sculptural fragments, sarcophagi, stone vases, candelabra, road paving slabs, gravestone inscriptions, building plans and urban ensembles .
Throughout his life he worked on a series of engravings “Views of Rome” (Vedute di Roma). These are very large sheets (on average about 40 cm in height and 60-70 cm in width), which preserved for us the appearance of Rome in the 18th century. Admiration for the ancient civilization of Rome and an understanding of the inevitability of its destruction, when in the place of majestic buildings modern people are busy with their modest everyday affairs - this is the main motive of these engravings.
A special place in Piranesi’s work is occupied by the series of engravings “Fantastic Images of Prisons”, better known as simply “Dungeons”. These architectural fantasies were first published in 1749. Ten years later, Piranesi returned to this work and created almost new works on the same copper boards. “Dungeons” are gloomy and frightening architectural structures with their size and lack of understandable logic, where the spaces are mysterious, just as the purpose of these stairs, bridges, passages, blocks and chains is unclear. The power of stone structures is overwhelming. Creating the second version of “The Dungeon,” the artist dramatized the original compositions: he deepened the shadows, added many details and human figures - either jailers or prisoners tied to torture devices.
Over the past decades, Piranesi's fame and glory has been growing every year. More and more books about him are being published and the best museums in the world are organizing exhibitions of his works. Piranesi is probably the most famous artist who achieved such fame only through graphics, unlike other great engravers who were also great painters (
