view through a very tall doorway with a curving top to a bridge with arches and a freize of relief sculptures along top of bridge

The Grand Piazza, Plate IV from the series, "Carceri", c. 1749

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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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view through a very tall doorway with a curving top to a bridge with arches and a freize of relief sculptures along top of bridge