Magnificent bridge with loggias, and arches erected by a Roman Emperor... (Ponte magnfiico con Logge, ed Archi erretto da un Imperatore Romane...), from "Prima Parte di Architettura, e Prospettive"
ca. 1750
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Plate (Image): 9 3/8 × 14 1/8 in. (23.8 × 35.8 cm) Plate (Inscription): 3/4 × 14 1/8 in. (1.9 × 35.8 cm) Sheet: 13 1/4 × 19 7/16 in. (33.7 × 49.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937
Accession Number
37.45.3(13)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Piranesi's *Magnificent bridge with loggias, and arches erected by a Roman Emperor...* (ca. 1750) captures the awe-inspiring scale of ancient Roman engineering through a masterful etching. Part of his early series *Prima Parte di Architettura, e Prospettive*, this print depicts a grand bridge adorned with loggias and soaring arches, complete with boats gliding beneath—evoking the bustling life along the Tiber River. Piranesi, an 18th-century Venetian artist and architect, was obsessed with Rome's ruins, blending meticulous observation with dramatic imagination to celebrate im...
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...