Paperink

1981.10

Leonard Breen Memorial Fund

Gift

Leonard Breen Memorial Fund

circa 1740 - circa 1778

Inscription

lower right in image

Avanzi di un antico Sepolcro, oggi detto la Conocchia, che si vede de poco lungi dalla Porta di Capua per andar a Napoli. Questo Sepolcro non si sa a qual Familgia abbia potuto appartenere; stante che gli e'stata le- vata la sua antica Iscrizione. Cav. Piranesi F.

Italian

View of the ancient tomb, called La Conocchia, on the Appian Way, near Capua Gate on the way to Naples. It is not known who this tomb belongs to, its ancient inscription has been removed. Cav. Piranesi Fecit

EtchedInk

Inscription

lower left below image

H130

PencilWritten

Referencing catalogue raisonne Hind 130

Stamp

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47 (turned sideways)

Ink

Inscription

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300-

PencilWritten

Likely previous price of work written by dealer

28-1/2 in

18-7/8 in

BlackWhite

Source Notes

Information provided by source.

(Paul Praute, Paris, France); purchased by Purdue University Galleries in 1981 {1} {1} Purchased through Emeritus Professor Casper Goffman (1913-2006)

Renaissance & Baroque Prints (1983)

INTRO: Community Selections (2013)

Cultural/Historical Context

"Giovanni Battista Piranesi (author: Jayne Mack for Purdue Galleries) Giovanna Battista Piranesi was a mid-Eighteenth Century etcher, engraver, designer, architect, archaeologist, and theorist who worked mostly in Venice and Rome, Italy. His designs and theoretical writings, all a compilation of his study and thorough knowledge of antiquity, made him a remarkable influence on European Neo-Classicism. He his known today for his personal development of capriccio, meaning architectural imagination, as well as his collections of etched vedute, meaning etched, detailed views of cities, which he made as souvenirs for tourists to Rome. Piranesi was the son of a stonemason and master builder, and so his exposure to architectural practices began at an early age. His various surroundings and influences gave him a foundation for controversy and archaeological inquiry such as his uncle, designer and engineer Matteo Lucchesi, with whom he quarreled and debated with. Piranesi was also a designer of Baroque stage sets in his early years. In his later years at Rome, Piranesi learned engraving techniques and began etching. In his most mature years between 1747-60 he began focusing on ancient Rome’s great accomplishments and it was at this time he created his first independent set of vedute. In Purdue University’s permanent collection there are two wonderful examples of Piranesi’s etchings of these sort. One piece in the collection, titled Avanzi de Antico Sepulcro, shows the interior of an ancient Roman temple in ruins. And the second is a view of a monument at the 2nd century Roman Emperor, Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, titled Villa Adriana. Characteristic of Piranesi’s work in these examples is the meticulous detail and the fantasy-like appearance of the scene; a reflection of his interest in capriccio. Comparable is Piranesi’s View of the Temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli, where we see the same detailed technique to portray a monumental piece of ancient Roman architecture shown in ruins. Piranesi’s etchings and theoretical writings on ancient Rome had a profound influence on architecture in the future. ----- ----- Giovanni Batista Piranesi, creator of some 2000 etchings of ancient Rome, shaped the enduring popular mental image of the city. Piranesi altered scales, filled in the missing parts of ruins with imaginary elements, and established dynamic, dramatically lit perspectives to aggrandize Rome. His prints so powerfully determined European conceptions that Goethe, the hugely influential German polymath, expressed disappointment when first encountering the real city. Piranesi documented all aspects of Roman building: walls, defenses, aqueducts, tombs, bridges, and monuments. Piranesi’s most original works, the Carceri d’Invenzione – imaginary prisons – anticipate Romanticism, Surrealism, even horror movies. Drawn while suffering from malaria, they presage Goya’s half-mad/nightmarish “Black Paintings.” With Escher-like distortion they are marvelous structures, daunting in scale, empty of purpose, horrific and torturous, bringing to mind Kafka’s obstructionist bureaucracies. Today Postmodernists (diverse artists working since 1970) continue to respond to Piranesi. University of Sydney, Australia held “The Phantasmagorial Grid – Justin Trendall and the influence of Giovanni Batista Piranesi” (2005). Trendall’s mix of text and imagery parallels Piranesi’s incorporation of text/diagrams. One should note, following custom, Piranesi numbered each Roman fragment, making corresponding explanations in the lower margins. Whereas Piranesi’s notes provide a valuable record, Trendall incorporates text as an aesthetic visual choice. Artist Vik Muniz, known for his photos of images made with quirky, temporary substances (dust, fake blood, sky-writing smoke), recreated Piranesi prison images in String Art/Photo. The Muniz creations, warmly described as “less illusionistic and less theatrical,” featured alongside Piranesi’s etchings in “Giovanni Batista Piranesi and Vik Muniz: Prisons of the Imagination” (National Academy of Sciences, 2004). Clearly, Piranesi’s vision resounds powerfully through the centuries. "