Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome), part I
ca. 1750–78
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Overall: 21 7/16 x 16 9/16 x 2 3/4 in. (54.5 x 42 x 7 cm)
Classification
Albums|Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, transferred from the Library
Accession Number
41.71.1.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the eternal city through *Vedute di Roma (Views Rome), part I*, captivating album of etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, created between about 1750 and 177. This Venetian-born artist, often called the "printmaker of Rome," devoted his career to documenting the city's majestic ruins and baroque splendor. During the Grand Tour era, when wealthy Europeans flocked to Italy, Piranesi's works served as vivid souvenirs and scholarly treasures, fueling a renewed fascination with classical antiquity amid the Enlightenment's embrace of history and reason. Piranesi's mastery of etching shi...
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...