Selected etchings by Piranesi, series 2

by Unknown

Transcriber’s Notes

Larger versions of most illustrations may be seen by right-clicking them and selecting an option to view them separately, or by double-tapping and/or stretching them.

Transcriber included the plate numbers in their captions.

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Selected Etchings
by
PIRANESI

With an Introduction
by
C. H. Reilly, m.a., f.r.i.b.a.,
Roscoe Professor of Architecture, The University of Liverpool.
SERIES II.
TECHNICAL JOURNALS, Ltd.
CAXTON HOUSE :: WESTMINSTER

LIST OF PLATES

[1].	Medallion Portrait of Piranesi.
[2].	Trophy of Arms.
Designs.
[3].	Design for a Bridge.
[4].	Design for a Forum.
[5].	A Roman Hall.
[6].	Imaginary Prison Interior.
[7].	Ditto.
[8].	Ditto.
Views of Roman Buildings and Sites.
[9].	View of the Campo Vaccino (Forum Romanum).
[10].	Temple of Concord.
[11].	Arch of Titus.
[12].	Ditto.
[13].	Arch of Constantine.
[14].	Arch of Trajan at Ancona.
[15].	Tomb of Cecilia Metella.
[16].	The Ponte Salario.
[17].	The Ponte Lugano.
[18].	Temple of Ceres.
[19].	Forum of Nerva.
[20].	Ditto.
[21].	Temple of Bacchus.
[22].	Temple of Minerva Medica (now considered part of the Baths of Gallienus).
[23].	Part of the Colosseum.
[24].	Basilica of S. Lorenzo.
[25].	Basilica of St. Paul.
[26].	Basilica of S. Sebastian.
[27].	The Trevi Fountain.
[28].	Fountain of Pope Paul V.
[29].	The Felice Fountain.
[30].	The Palazzo Laterano.
[31].	The Palazzo Barbarini.
[32].	The Palazzo Quirinale.
Vases, Pedestals, &c.
[33].	The Nave of St. Peter’s.
[34].	The Interior under the dome of St. Peter’s.
[35].	The Interior of St. John Lateran.
[36].	Pedestal from the Borghese Collection.
[37].	Offertory Box from the “Vasi Candelabri.”
[38].	Urn from ditto.
[39].	Ditto.
[40].	Vase from ditto.
[41].	Ditto.
[42].	Ditto.
[43].	Ditto.
[44].	Ditto.
[45].	Ditto.
[46].	Ditto.
[47].	Ditto.
[48].	Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”
[49].	Ditto.
[50].	Ditto.

INTRODUCTION

The demand which followed the issue of the first series of small reproductions of Piranesi’s etchings has tempted the Publishers to put forth a further selection. The mine is, indeed, inexhaustible, but all the etchings, though of great individual interest, are not of equal value to architects. For them Piranesi serves two main purposes: the first, a stimulus to the imagination; the second, a store of rich and expressive detail. In this selection, to assist in the first purpose, are included a few of his own architectural designs. These do not, however, in reality exhibit his great imaginative qualities so well as his interpretations of actual buildings. Although Piranesi was careful to see that he was always styled “Venetian Architect,” we have no very reliable evidence that he ever composed a building except on paper, and such paper plans as he published do not suggest great practical qualities. It is in his drawings of the ruins of ancient Rome that he gives us something at once more rare and more valuable than any ordinary architectural achievement. In them he shows us the inherent romance buried deep in Roman construction. Through him we learn the spiritual character of this construction when stripped of all its worldly ornament. It is true that in his drawings the buildings have another sort of decoration—a decoration of trees and foliage. In the eighteenth century the ruins had not yet been cleaned and docketed into museum specimens, but the romance which Piranesi reveals in arch, vault, and dome is something deeper than a mere picturesque contrast with foliage and figures. The romance he shows us is the romance of any enduring monument. It is the monumental quality of Roman construction which makes it akin to the great works of Nature, and the trees and vegetation in Piranesi drawings only help to demonstrate this kinship. The gesticulating figures serve a similar purpose. They are the men of a lesser generation gibbering over the work of ancestors they only half comprehend.