The Arch with a Shell Ornament, from "Carceri d'invenzione" (Imaginary Prisons)
ca. 1749–50
Medium
Etching, engraving, scratching, sulphur tint or open bite, drypoint; first state of seven (Robison)
Dimensions
Sheet: 19 1/2 x 25 3/16 in. (49.5 x 64 cm) Plate: 15 15/16 x 21 7/16 in. (40.5 x 54.5 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(31)
Tags
About this artwork
Giovanni Battista Piranesi's 'The Arch with a Shell Ornament' from the series Carceri d'invenzione (Imaginary Prisons) represents one of printmaking's most influential achievements. Created circa 1749-50, this etching is from the first state of seven (Robison), before Piranesi's 1761 reworking that made the plates even darker and more complex. The series, consisting of 16 etchings (14 in the first edition, with two added in 1761), depicts enormous subterranean vaults with stairs and mighty machi...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi|Giovanni Bouchard · 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...