Frontispice met een voorstelling van het Circus van Mars langs de Via Appia Antica

About this artwork

Deze prent maakt deel uit van de serie 'Le Antichità Romane'. Piranesi deed meer dan acht jaar voorstudie voor deze 250 platen tellende serie die in vier volumes werd uitgegeven. Hij produceerde de prenten tussen ca. 1756 en 1757. De serie bevat ook prenten door of naar andere prentmakers, onder wie Francesco Bianchini en Girolamo Rossi.

Art Historical Context

**Frontispiece Depicting the Circus of Mars the Via Appia Antica***Giovanni Battista Piranesi c. 1756–1757, etching, 400 × 603 mm* This striking etching serves as the frontispiece for Giovanni Battista Piranesi's monumental *Le Antichitàane* (Roman Antiqu), a lavish four-volume publication showcasing 250 detailed plates of ancient Roman ruins and artifacts. Created around 1756–1757, it captures the dramatic ruins of the Circus of Mars along the historic Via Appia Antica one of Rome's oldest roads. Piranesi, a masterful Venetian etcher renowned for his vedute—topographical views blending preci...

About the Artist

Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1720–1778

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) was an Italian printmaker, architect, and antiquarian whose visionary etchings of Rome and imaginary prisons revolutionized architectural representation and profoundly influenced both Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Piranesi stands as one of the most important printmakers of the eighteenth century, fundamentally shaping European perceptions of ancient Rome an...