Vertical Section of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius

Date1756

Credit LineGift in honor of Catherine Howett Smith by the Carlos Museum staff

DimensionsMat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm) Overall: 21 1/8 in. (53.7 cm) Sheet: 21 1/8 × 15 3/8 in. (53.7 × 39.1 cm) Image: 16 3/4 × 9 1/4 in. (42.5 × 23.5 cm)

Object number2002.037.001

Label TextThis architectural study of the Pyramid of Caius Cestius appeared in Le Antichità Romane, a work that Piranesi intended as a rigorous archaeological treatise. In the third volume of this grandiose publication, Piranesi addressed the tombs and funerary monuments of ancient Rome. This print appears in a series of nine images focused on the pyramid, which was built in the late 1st century BC as a tomb for Caius Cestius. A veduta begins the series, followed by prints that represent other aspects of the
structure, including its plan, the Latin inscription carved into its surface, architectural fragments found near the pyramid,
and the interior tomb chamber.

Piranesi developed many innovative ways to portray architecture, as can be seen in this section, or slice, imagined through the masonry of the pyramid that reveals the small tomb chamber within. He grants the viewer a closer look at this chamber and its decoration on the illusionistic paper that appears to be pinned to the sky behind the pyramid, the top right corner curling inward. The urban context of the tomb is illustrated by a view of the Aurelian fortifications behind it at the lower right. The lengthy caption below labels various parts of the pyramid structure, noting the materials used in its construction and findings from the restoration campaign sponsored by Pope Alexander VII in the preceding century.
Exhibition HistoryTravelers in an Antique Land: Artists and Ancient Egypt, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 30, 2003 - January 11, 2004
Discovering Rome: Maps and Monuments of the Eternal City, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 16, 2006 - January 14, 2007
Antichità, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance and Baroque Images of Rome, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 24 - November 17, 2013
Piranesi's Pages: Rome in Books and Prints, 1756-1776, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 13 - April 4, 2021
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, December 2002 - February 2003.
Sarah McPhee, et al., Antichita, Teatro, Magnificenza: Renaissance & Baroque Images of Rome (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2013), 61 (checklist only).

ProvenanceEx private collection, United States, said to have been purchased from Saint James's Court, Fine Prints, London, England, 2000. Purchased by MCCM from private collection.

Status

Not on view

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