Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_; boldface
text is enclosed in =equals signs=.
Transcriber included the plate numbers in their captions.
SELECTED ETCHINGS BY PIRANESI
SERIES I.
[Illustration]
Selected Etchings
by
PIRANESI
With an Introduction
by
C. H. REILLY, M.A., F.R.I.B.A.,
Roscoe Professor of Architecture, The University of Liverpool.
SERIES I.
TECHNICAL JOURNALS, LTD.
CAXTON HOUSE :: WESTMINSTER
LIST OF PLATES
1. Title-page to the “Vedute di Roma.” (_Pub. Rome 1751._)
2. Composition of Ruins.
3. Bas-relief from the Portico of the Church of the Apostles, Rome.
4. Antique bas-relief from Naples.
5. Trophy of Arms.
DESIGNS.
6. Design for a Grand Staircase.
7. Design for a Sculpture Gallery.
8. Design for the Mausoleum of a Roman Emperor.
9. Sketch Design.
10. Composition.
VIEWS OF ROMAN BUILDINGS.
11. Pyramid of C. Cestius, Appian Way.
12. Temple of Hercules, Cora.
13. Basilica of Maxentius, Rome.
14. The Capitol, Rome.
15. The Capitol, Rome.
16. The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, Rome.
17. The Colosseum.
18. Tomb of Hadrian (Castle of St. Angelo).
19. Ponte Molle, Rome.
20. The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.
21. Interior of the Pantheon.
22. Gallery in Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli.
23. Ponte St. Angelo.
24. Temple of Concord, Rome.
25. Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.
26. Piazza Navona, Rome.
27. View of the Churches of the Madonna di Loreto and Santa Maria,
by Trajan’s Column, Rome.
28. Piazza of St. Peter’s, Rome.
29. Antique Equestrian statues (Castor and Pollux) on the Quirinal,
Rome.
30. The Quirinal, Rome.
IMAGINARY ROMAN PRISONS.
31. Etching from the series of imaginary Roman Prisons.
32. Ditto.
VASES, TRIPODS, &C.
33. Vase from “Vasi Candelabri.” (_Pub. Rome 1778._)
34. Vase from ditto.
35. Vase from ditto.
36. Vase from ditto.
37. Vase and tripod from ditto.
38. Vase and pedestal from ditto.
39. Tripod from “Vasi Candelabri.”
40. Tripod and bas-relief from ditto.
41. Tripod from ditto.
42. Lamp from ditto.
43. Vases from ditto.
44. Altar from ditto.
CHIMNEYPIECES.
45. Design for Chimneypiece from “Diverse Maniere.”
46. Ditto.
47. Ditto.
48. Ditto.
49. Ditto.
50. Design for a Chimneypiece and clock from “Diverse Maniere.”
INTRODUCTION
Architecturally speaking, we live at a time somewhat similar to that
in which the genius of Piranesi first made its impact upon English
designers. In the latter half of the eighteenth century English
architects and patrons were alike growing a little tired of pure
Palladianism. The novelty and spirit of Inigo Jones’s work had given
place to the uninspired correctness of Campbell, Kent, and a host
of lesser disciples. Restrained and elegant as the work of those
architects appears to modern eyes, after the debauch of “free Classic”
from which we are now emerging, it is nevertheless true that, at
that time, the English Palladian formula was nearly exhausted. The
circuses and crescents of Bath, with their unfluted columns and dull
ornament, their endless repetitions of correct features, could not be
indefinitely extended. The early Georgian houses, so comfortable in
the country, began to look a little coarse and provincial in London
streets, particularly to those who had taken the Grand Tour.
What more natural, then, that architects should turn again to the
source and fountainhead from which Palladio had drawn his inspiration,
to see whether it had anything fresh to yield?
The practising architect in England at the end of the eighteenth
century required, however, a cicerone to the remains of the antique
world just as much as his predecessor did in the seventeenth century.
The seventeenth-century architect chose Palladio as his guide;
the architect in the latter part of the eighteenth century chose
Piranesi. Naturally, the lesson taught was somewhat different. The
eighteenth-century architect was much further advanced in scholarship.
Palladio gave the main proportions of the Orders and the principles
of composition. He laid down definite rules and precepts suitable
to beginners. His was the first-year work, to use a school simile.
Piranesi takes the scholars of the later years and initiates them
into all the mysteries of ornament and stylistic character. Offering
no pedantic rules, he makes a direct appeal to the imagination of his
students. He reveals to them not only the power but the intimate spirit
of the Roman world. He offers them whole collections of vases and
candelabra to use or not as they like. He unlocks a treasure-house--a
library full of fresh detail. The detail, too, is rich, complex detail,
safe only in the hands of the discerning. But Piranesi’s students in
England at that time were fit to profit by such a master; among his
more attentive scholars being Robert Adam, Chambers, Dance, and many
other architects of the late eighteenth century, and through these he
influenced the decorative designers from Chippendale to Pergolesi. Mr.
Phene Spiers, not without a certain hyperbole, traces the Empire Style
to Piranesi’s designs for chimneypieces. At any rate it is safe to say
that the new vigour and life which came into English architecture with
the work of Chambers and Adam was derived from a more thorough and
complete knowledge of Roman architecture, and that the chief source
of that knowledge was the vast collection of thirteen hundred or more
engraved plates which Piranesi etched and published at the marvellous
rate of one a fortnight throughout a fairly long life.
Now, if any coherence at all can be seen in the trend of modern English
architecture, we seem at the present moment to be just as dissatisfied
with mere Palladianism as were the architects of the end of the
eighteenth century. Like them, too, we are looking for a more complete
expression of the Classic spirit. To us, therefore, Piranesi may have
a very similar lesson. The unfortunate thing, however, is that his
etchings, a few years ago so easy to obtain, are daily becoming more
rare and expensive. A collection of the best of those issued during the
artist’s lifetime could hardly be made to-day for less than a couple of
hundred pounds. The Paris reprints which his son issued in 1815 might
be obtained for half that sum, but to the ordinary practitioner this
may be considered as half infinity. Even Mr. Keith Young’s massive
volume of reproductions costs several pounds. The days of Robert Adam
were the days when architects were few and patrons were rich. Our own
times are less happy in that respect, but they are nevertheless the
days of unrivalled opportunity. Piranesi is the magician who can show
what opportunities may become; more especially as the process block,
albeit lacking in the marvellous gradations of tone and feeling of the
original etchings, renders it possible to publish at small cost such a
series as are comprised in this volume.
The following are the main facts of Piranesi’s career as far as they
are known:--
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, to give him his full name, was born in
Venice in the year 1720. His father Angelo pursued the honourable
calling of a stonemason, so suited to the progenitor of an architect.
His mother was sister to an engineer and architect named Lucchesi, and
it was to him that young Piranesi was articled. In his early years he
seems to have been something of an _enfant prodigue_ and is reported to
have been able to draw the architecture of Venice at the age of eight.
At eighteen he persuaded his parents to send him to Rome, and ever
after, although signing himself “Venetian Architect,” he remained at
work in that city. At first, in his desire to obtain a firm grasp on
the technique of the graphic arts, he seems to have attached himself
to various masters. The story is told that he threatened one of these
masters, Vasi, with the loss of his life because he imagined that some
secret in the process of etching was being withheld from him. Such a
story, whether true or not, together with the later one that he saw
for the first time and married his wife within the space of one week,
fits in well enough with the impetuous temperament and fine fury of
work which all the etchings exhibit. The numerous controversies in
which he was engaged in later years, sometimes involving the erasure of
names from dedication and title-pages, are all evidence of the same
characteristics--characteristics which may have made him, according to
modern standards, a poor archæologist, but which were not without value
to the artist and teacher of artists.
In 1741, when twenty-one years of age, Piranesi published his first
etchings, four compositions of ruins, afterwards included in his _Opere
Varie_, issued by Bouchard at Rome in 1750. In 1748 he published his
_Antichità Romane de’ Tempi della Repubblica e de’ primi Imperatori,
etc._, containing thirty plates of triumphal arches, amphitheatres,
and other ancient structures, mostly from places other than Rome. The
price of this volume (Mr. Samuel informs us in his admirable book) was
16 paoli, or about 13s. 4d., which shows for how small a contemporary
reward Piranesi had to work. In 1750 Bouchard published his _Opere
Varie_, which contained a number of his imaginative designs for great
halls, staircases and monuments, as well as his famous series of prison
dreams--the _Carceri d’Invenzione_. From this time onwards followed
in quick succession an immense number of etchings grouped somewhat
irregularly in great folio volumes with varying engraved title-pages.
The _Raccolta di Varie Vedute_ (Rome 1751) contains ninety-three small
views and includes work by Israel Silvestre and other etchers. This
volume must not be confused with the _Vedute di Roma_, in two volumes,
containing large title-pages and one hundred and thirty-seven plates,
thirty-four of which were published in 1751, under the title _Le
Magnificenze di Roma le più remarcabili_.
Perhaps Piranesi’s greatest work, in both size and importance, is _Le
Antichità Romane_, in four volumes, containing a varying number of
plates from 216–224. This was first issued in 1756.
In 1761, he etched four plates for Robert Adam illustrating the
latter’s design for Sion House, and in 1769 he published his _Diverse
Maniere d’Adornare_, in which appear the ornate but very stimulating
designs for chimneypieces, referred to above. Of his remaining works,
perhaps the most important to architects is the _Vasi Candelabri Cippi
Sarcofagi Tripodi Lucerne ed ornamenti Antichi_, to give it its full
title, which was published in Rome in 1778--the year of his death. This
contains a series of magnificent drawings of antiques, largely from
his own collection. A great number of these drawings are dedicated
to various English gentlemen, each described as “a lover of the fine
arts,” which is proof of the interest Englishmen were already taking in
Piranesi and his work.
In addition to the foregoing, Piranesi published a number of monographs
on special subjects illustrated with etchings. Among these are the
volumes on Trajan’s Column, the Theatre at Herculaneum, Hadrian’s
Villa, and the Temples at Pæstum, all of which are more noticeable for
the boldness of the draughtsmanship than for the archæological views
they set forth. It must not be imagined, however, because Piranesi was
the interpreter of the romance of the Roman ruins, and through this
very romance fired the imagination of Europe, that he was not when he
liked an exact draughtsman. The cracks on the obelisk shown in the
foreground of his etching of Santa Maria Maggiore tally with those
shown in a photograph taken one hundred and fifty years later.
In April, 1757, Piranesi was elected an honorary Fellow of the Society
of Antiquaries, which is another proof of the esteem in which he was
held in England. He was knighted by Pope Clement XIII. in 1767. He died
in 1778, and is buried in the church of Santa Maria Aventina.
Of his five children, Francesco (b. 1748) and Laura (b. 1750) etched
in their father’s manner and assisted him in his work. After his
death, however, they took to print-selling rather than creative work,
though Francesco still etched plates on his own account. In 1798 he
packed up his father’s copper-plates and took them to Paris. During an
adventurous journey they fell into the hands of an English Admiral,
who, however, knowing the fame of the father, unfortunately restrained
his first impulse to throw the plates overboard. It was unfortunate
because on arrival in Paris Francesco was able, with the help of the
French Government, to republish from the old plates a new edition of
his father’s work, which, from the state of the plates, for many years
did considerable damage to Piranesi’s fame as an etcher. The plates
exist at the present day, and it is believed that prints are still
occasionally struck from them. Now, however, the difference between the
original Roman impressions and the later Paris ones is well understood,
and Piranesi’s renown never stood higher than it does to-day. His son
died in 1810.
The plates here reproduced are from the author’s collection, with the
exception of the designs for chimneypieces, which have been kindly lent
by Mr. Batsford.
C. H. REILLY.
[Illustration: Plate 1:
Title-page to the “Vedute di Roma.” (Pub. Rome 1751.)]
[Illustration: Plate 2:
Composition of Ruins.]
[Illustration: Plate 3:
Bas-relief from the Portico of the Church of the
Apostles, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 4:
Antique bas-relief from Naples.]
[Illustration: Plate 5:
Trophy of Arms.]
[Illustration: Plate 6:
Design for a Grand Staircase.]
[Illustration: Plate 7:
Design for a Sculpture Gallery.]
[Illustration: Plate 8:
Design for the Mausoleum of a Roman Emperor.]
[Illustration: Plate 9:
Sketch Design.]
[Illustration: Plate 10:
Composition.]
[Illustration: Plate 11:
Pyramid of C. Cestius, Appian Way.]
[Illustration: Plate 12:
Temple of Hercules, Cora.]
[Illustration: Plate 13:
Basilica of Maxentius, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 14:
The Capitol, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 15:
The Capitol.]
[Illustration: Plate 16:
The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 17:
The Colosseum.]
[Illustration: Plate 18:
Tomb of Hadrian (Castle of St. Angelo).]
[Illustration: Plate 19:
Ponte Molle, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 20:
The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.]
[Illustration: Plate 21:
Interior of the Pantheon.]
[Illustration: Plate 22:
Gallery in Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli.]
[Illustration: Plate 23:
Ponte St. Angelo.]
[Illustration: Plate 24:
Temple of Concord, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 25:
Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 26:
Piazza Navona, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 27:
View of the Churches of the Madonna di Loreto and Santa
Maria, by Trajan’s Column, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 28:
Piazza of St. Peter’s, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 29:
Antique Equestrian Statues (Castor and Pollux) on the
Quirinal, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 30:
The Quirinal, Rome.]
[Illustration: Plate 31:
Etching from the Series of Imaginary Roman Prisons.]
[Illustration: Plate 32:
Etching from the Series of Imaginary Roman Prisons.]
[Illustration: Plate 33:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 34:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 35:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 36:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 37:
Vase and Tripod from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 38:
Vase and Pedestal from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 39:
Tripod from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 40:
Tripod and bas-relief from the “Vasi Candelabri etc.”]
[Illustration: Plate 41:
Tripod from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 42:
Lamp from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 43:
Vases from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 44:
Altar from the “Vasi Candelabri.”]
[Illustration: Plate 45:
Design for Chimneypiece and Grate from the “Diverse
Maniere.”]
[Illustration: Plate 46:
Design for Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”]
[Illustration: Plate 47:
Design for Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”]
[Illustration: Plate 48:
Design for Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”]
[Illustration: Plate 49:
Design for Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”]
[Illustration: Plate 50:
Design for Chimneypiece and Clock from the “Diverse
Maniere.”]
SOME INTERESTING PUBLICATIONS
ISSUED BY TECHNICAL JOURNALS, LTD.
CAXTON HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, LONDON
TECHNICAL JOURNALS, LTD.
_Publishers’ Note._
In presenting this list the Publishers would draw attention to the
distinctive character of the works which are described. These cover a
wide field, being of interest not only to those who are professionally
concerned with architecture and building, but also to those who have
a general non-technical interest in such subjects. Thus, the volume
giving an illustrated historical survey of Mediæval and Renaissance
architecture in England, and the volumes dealing with English domestic
and ecclesiastical architecture, garden city houses, and domestic
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though also of strictly professional interest, are of totally
different character, giving, as they do, carefully measured drawings
and photographs of some of the finest examples of architecture in the
kingdom; while those who are specially concerned with architectural
education from the standpoint of design will find in “THE LIVERPOOL
SKETCH BOOK” a notable collection of students’ drawings.
“WHO’S WHO IN ARCHITECTURE” should be warmly welcomed as a work
occupying a mid-position between the biography and the directory.
As its name implies, it gives biographical particulars of all the
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In addition, particulars are given of “THE ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’
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architecture.
_A Short Chronological History of British Architecture._
The greatest achievements of British architecture are presented as a
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of the Early Renaissance, in Section III. the great buildings of the
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work by Sir Aston Webb, Mr. Ernest Newton, Mr. Mervyn Macartney, and
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The letterpress accompanying the illustrations is written by
acknowledged authorities, and sets forth in brief order the entire
chronological development, following the succeeding phases of
architectural art, and supplying those essential facts which are
necessary to a proper estimate of the whole.
CONTENTS:
Section I. Summary of ENGLISH MEDIÆVAL ARCHITECTURE (1050–1550). By
EDWARD S. PRIOR, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A.