View of the rear entrance of the Basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, from Veduta di Roma (Roman Views)
Medium
Etching; first state of five (Hind)
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 1/8 x 30 in. (46 x 76.2 cm) Plate: 15 13/16 x 24 3/16 in. (40.2 x 61.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. David Keppel, 1960
Accession Number
60.591.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Piranesi's *View of the Rear Entrance the Basilica of S. Maggiore*, from his renowned *Veduta di Roma* (Roman Views) series (ca 1742), offers a captivating etching of one of Rome's four major papal basilicas. first-state impression—one of only five variants—captures the ornate rear facade amid the city's architectural splendor, including obelisks grand buildings that evoke Rome's layered history from antiquity to the Baroque era. Piranesi, a visionary 18th-century Venetian architect and printmaker, revolutionized the *veduta* genre with his dramatic, detailed depictions of R...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi|Bouchard & Gravier · 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...