Various Roman Ionic capitals compared with Greek examples from Le Roy [S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Paoplo fuori le Mura, S. Clemente, etc.], from Della Magnificenza e d'Architettura de'Romani (On the Grandeur and the Architecture of the Romans by Gio. Battista Piranesi, Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London), tab. 20

Art Historical Context

In this intricate etching from Giovanni Battista Piranesi's 1761 publication *Della Magnific e d'Architettura' Romani* (On the Grande and the Architecture of the), Plate 20 meticulously compares Roman Ionic capitals—drawn from iconic sites like Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Paolo fuori le Mura, and San Clemente—with Greek examples referenced from Julien-David Le Roy's influential work on Athenian architecture. Created in the mid-18th, this large-scale print (plate measures 15¾ × 23⅝ inches) exemplifies Piranesi's passion for celebrating Rome's architectural supremacy during the Enlightenment-...

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...