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. Giovanni Battista 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: 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. Piranesi was one of the leading figures in the development of the neoclassical style in the 18th century. Hind’s definitive catalog of Piranesi’s Vedute in which dark shading was added in the sky near the center top and further heavy crosshatching was added on the masonry near the right margin, but with no number in the upper right margin. This print fits the description of the second state of this image as described in Arthur M. This watermark was used in Piranesi etchings in the 1760s, as illustrated by Andrew Robison (Wilton-Ely, 1161). The offered print is on laid paper with a characteristic fleur-de-lis watermark in a double circle, surmounted by a double lobe. Though still colloquially known as the Temple of Hercules, scholars today believe it was most likely dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. A few small figures are present, apparently Grand Tour travelers with walking sticks who have hiked up to the site, which is an elevated location overlooking the sea. This print shows the picturesque ruins of the so-called Temple of Hercules, built by the ancient Romans in the 1st century B.C. 1760-70sĪ fine 18th century etching from Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s most celebrated work, the Vedute di Roma. Veduta del Tempio di Ercole nella Città di Cora, dieci miglia lontano da Velletriīouchard, Rome: c. Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) (after)
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