Dedica a Clemente XIII

Etching with engraving, signed at lower left. From the first edition, showing Piranesi’s address. A fine proof, printed on contemporary laid paper with an unidentified watermark, wide margins, in perfect conditions.
Another work of remarkable architectural fascination this print, dedicated to the Pope, can be regarded as a true monument that complements the architectural inventions he created in the church of Saint Mary at the Priory at the Aventinum. The medal that can be seen is associated with the ones depicting emperors on the title-page. Lapides Capitolini A list of Roman magistrates from the times of the monarchy until the end of the reign of Augustus was sculpted on marble and fixed on a wall at the Roman Forum by mandate of the Roman historian Valerius Flaccus. These inscriptions were uncovered in fragmentary conditions in 1547 and placed at the Capitol, within an architectural setting of his own design, by Michelangelo. This minor work by Piranesi was finished in 1761 and published the following year, depicting the inscriptions in conformity with Michelangelo's arrangement. Furthermore, as in his earlier works, the artist did not restrict himself to simple duplication and depicted the plaques not as in reality, inserted into a wall, but representing them as if leaning on corbels or supported by clamps, therefore restoring an impression of their three-dimensionality, drawing attention on empty spaces, damaged sections, and chisel-marks, displaying them as ruins and fragments of an ancient and lost environment.