The Pier with Chains
| Reference: | S30481 |
| Author | Giovan Battista PIRANESI |
| Year: | 1750 ca. |
| Measures: | 557 x 410 mm |
| Reference: | S30481 |
| Author | Giovan Battista PIRANESI |
| Year: | 1750 ca. |
| Measures: | 557 x 410 mm |
Description
Etching, engraving, sulphur tint and burnishing, 1750, signed at lower right. From the Carceri set, plate XVI of the second edition, second issue.
Example in the fourth or fifth state of six described by Robison, from the contemporary roman edition (Robison dated to 1770).
A magnific impression, printed with black ink on contemporary laid paper with “hammer and anvil in a double encircled fleur de lys with crown and the inscription Fabriano” watermark (Robison 56 dated 1770s), wide margins, usual central fold, otherwise perfect conditions.
Magnificent example, from the contemporary second edition, printed on thick paper typically used by Piranesi.
Literature
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Robison 42 IV-V/VI, Hind 16, Focillon 39.
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Giovan Battista PIRANESI (Mogliano Veneto 1720 - Roma 1778)
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Italian etcher, engraver, designer, architect, archaeologist and theorist. He is considered one of the supreme exponents of topographical engraving, but his lifelong preoccupation with architecture was fundamental to his art. Although few of his architectural designs were executed, he had a seminal influence on European Neo-classicism through personal contacts with architects, patrons and visiting artists in Rome over the course of nearly four decades. His prolific output of etched plates, which combined remarkable flights of imagination with a strongly practical understanding of ancient Roman technology, fostered a new and lasting perception of antiquity. He was also a designer of festival structures and stage sets, interior decoration and furniture, as well as a restorer of antiquities. The interaction of this rare combination of activities led him to highly original concepts of design, which were advocated in a body of influential theoretical writings. The ultimate legacy of his unique vision of Roman civilization was an imaginative interpretation and re-creation of the past, which inspired writers and poets as much as artists and designers.
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Literature
|
Robison 42 IV-V/VI, Hind 16, Focillon 39.
|
Giovan Battista PIRANESI (Mogliano Veneto 1720 - Roma 1778)
|
Italian etcher, engraver, designer, architect, archaeologist and theorist. He is considered one of the supreme exponents of topographical engraving, but his lifelong preoccupation with architecture was fundamental to his art. Although few of his architectural designs were executed, he had a seminal influence on European Neo-classicism through personal contacts with architects, patrons and visiting artists in Rome over the course of nearly four decades. His prolific output of etched plates, which combined remarkable flights of imagination with a strongly practical understanding of ancient Roman technology, fostered a new and lasting perception of antiquity. He was also a designer of festival structures and stage sets, interior decoration and furniture, as well as a restorer of antiquities. The interaction of this rare combination of activities led him to highly original concepts of design, which were advocated in a body of influential theoretical writings. The ultimate legacy of his unique vision of Roman civilization was an imaginative interpretation and re-creation of the past, which inspired writers and poets as much as artists and designers.
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