Sheet of Sketches: Six Figures
1768/78
Medium
Pen and black and gray ink on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
23.1 × 36.5 cm (9 1/8 × 14 3/8 in.)
Classification
drawings (visual works)
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113520
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the renowned 18th-century artist and architect, is celebrated for his dramatic etchings of ancient Roman ruins fantastical prison scenes. This *Sheet of Sketches: Figures*, created between 1768 and1778, offers a rare glimpse into his preparatory process. Rendered in pen and black and gray on ivory laid paper (asuring 23.1 × 36.5 cm), the sheet captures six dynamic human figures, likely studies for incorporation into his grand architectural compositions. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, it exemplifies Piranesi's meticulous draf...
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...