The Grand Piazza, Plate IV from the series, "Carceri", c. 1749
Giovanni Battista Piranesiexpand_more
Etching on laid paperexpand_more
The Carl and Holly Jones Endowment for Prints and Drawings and the Winton Jones Endowment for Prints and Drawingsexpand_more 2021.24.1
Not on Viewexpand_more
In this view of a prison interior, Giovanni Battista Piranesi explored his imagination through architecture realized only on paper, unfettered by practical considerations. The scene revels in the sublime—the flipside of the Age of Enlightenment—in which Romantics opened themselves to the sensation of forces beyond human comprehension and control. Piranesi intended us to lose ourselves as we wander through a massive arch his maze of stairways and balconies leading to unknown destinations. This is the scary movie of the 18th century.
This etching belongs to a suite of such prison scenes. A decade after their first appearance in the late 1740s, Piranesi went back to work on his copper plates, darkening the images both literally and figuratively. It is in no small part due to the radical rethinking evident between the two iterations of the Prisons that Piranesi is sometimes called “the Rembrandt of Architecture.”
Details
- Title
- The Grand Piazza, Plate IV from the series, "Carceri"
- Artist Life
- Italian, 1720–1778
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2021.24.1
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Robison 31 i/viii Focillon 27 Hind 4
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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