Le Antichita Romane. Volume 4

Date1756

MediumMonograph

Credit LinePurchased by the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library; the Robert W. Woodruff Library; and the Michael C. Carlos Museum with funding support from the Howett, Ryals, and Wooley Funds

Dimensions21 5/8 x 15 3/8 in. (55 x 39 cm)

Object number2018.004.004

Label TextIn the fourth volume of Le Antichità Romane Piranesi created several series of prints depicting the ancient bridges, theaters, and porticos in Rome and its surrounding countryside. In this spectacular plate of the Ponte Fabrizio, Piranesi combines distinct strategies for representing architecture to produce a comprehensive composite view of the monument. An elevation of the bridge’s exterior stretches across the top portion of the print. Through the open archways, perspective views of the Tiber and the buildings on its banks are revealed, reminiscent of Piranesi’s city views, or vedute. The elevation then morphs into a section view, as the artist slices through the water to reveal the pier supports and bed of ancient stone that rests at the bottom of the river. The blocks labeled “A” and the elements that surround them show the bridge’s supporting piers in plan, as if viewed from above. Two architectural details appear at the bottom of the plate. On the left Piranesi presents an ornamental detail of a pilaster capital and entablature from the face of the bridge, and on the right one of the stone blocks used in its construction. This print is part of a five-plate series on the Ponte Fabrizio that includes a dramatic veduta of the bridge, an image that excerpts the monument’s inscriptions, and several composite views. This thorough representation of a single monument is typical of Piranesi’s engagement with the ruins around him.

A page-by-page scan of the volume is available from the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library here.
Exhibition HistoryPiranesi's Pages: Rome in Books and Prints, 1756-1776, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 13 - April 4, 2021
Published References"Emory acquires rare 18th-century Piranesi books illustrating ancient Rome". June 4, 2018. http://news.emory.edu/stories/2018/06/er_piranesi_acquisition/campus.html

ProvenanceEx coll. Giannalisa Feltrinelli (ca. 1903-1981), Italy. Purchased by MCCM, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, and Robert W. Woodruff Library from Altea Maps, London, England.

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Not on view

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