They were sold as souvenirs to English aristocrats on the Grand Tour in Italy or by subscription directly to British patrons. Piranesi etched and published numerous folio print sets of art, architecture and archaeology of Rome and environs, that served as source material for other architects and designers.
Although Piranesi composed and etched many of his works, his son Francesco (1758-1810) and studio assistants such as Vincenzo Dolcibene also etched a significant number of the prints, especially in later years.
According to scholar John Wilton-Ely, the distinguishing characteristics of Piranesi’s early works were “the unorthodox combination of classical motifs, the manipulation of superhuman scale, the organization of powerfully receding perspectives upon diagonal axes, and the modulation of space by means of skilful lighting.” Piranesi’s work was recognized with his election as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in England in 1757. Many consider him one of the most influential artists in the development and popularization of the neoclassical style of the late 18th century. He was at once an artist, architect, archeologist, designer, collector, and print and antiquities dealer. Piranesi was a multi-talented and accomplished man of the enlightenment who combined supreme artistic ability and historical scholarship with an entrepreneurial business sense.
Through these particular works, which were spread all over the Continent by means of the Grand Tour, Piranesi was not only to revolutionize the convention form of the veduta but was to transform the European vision of classical antiquity. The 135 plates of the Vedute di Roma, produced individually by Piranesi from the late 1740s until his death some thirty years later, represent almost every phase in his stylistic evolution and reflect his changing intellectual concerns. Piranesi scholar John Wilton-Ely describes the Vedute as follows:
#Piranesi prints colosseum series#
The Vedute is the largest and best known series of the prints Piranesi produced, comprising 135 plates by him and two by his son Francesco Piranesi (Hind, 5). Their lasting popularity is due not only to the picturesque subject matter but Piranesi’s consummate artistry, command of perspective, subtle tonality, and imaginative flair. His Vedute di Roma depicted the great buildings of Rome, from ancient times and the Renaissance to the mid 18th century, when many were in ruins. Giovanni Battista Piranesi was one of the leading figures in the development of the neoclassical style in the 18th century. It remains the most impressive surviving civic monument in Rome from Late Antiquity. The first restorations of the arch were undertaken in the 18th century. It spanned the route where Roman triumphal processions entered the city, and incorporates reliefs reused from 2nd century imperial monuments built during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, along with newly created sculpture. Located in Rome between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, it was built by the Roman Senate in 315 AD to commemorate Constantine I’s victory in battle over the previous emperor Maxentius three years earlier. The Arch of Constantine is the largest of the ancient Roman triumphal arches.
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