The Giant Wheel

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

The Giant Wheel (2^nd State), 1749

Carceri, plate IX of 2^nd Edition

Etching and engraving
547 x 406 mm.; 21 1/2 x 16 inches

References:
Hind 9-II/III
Robison 35

Notes:

1. A very fine impression of one of Piranesi’s greatest prints.
2.  The 2^nd edition of the Carceri was much more complicated in technique than the 1^st edition.  Since the entire work on these plates continued to be in pure etching, Piranesi had to cover his plate with a varnish heavy enough to protect the etched lines of the first edition, but sufficiently transparent to allow him to add the new lines in logical aesthetic relationships.  The complications of composition were such that Piranesi sometimes repeated the varnishing, drawing and etching process ten and twelve times on each plate in order for the whole etching to harmonize together.  Furthermore, in order to achieve desired effects, it would appear that he actually “painted” the attacking acid onto isolated, exposed areas of his plates.  Through working and re-working and in plunging his plates repeatedly into the biting acid, Piranesi was able to achieve those “beautiful blacks” which his biographer Legrand in 1801 described as being so black as to be oppressive and “unbearable” (noir insupportable).  Piranesi’s most profound critic Focillon in 1918 called these same blacks “darker and richer” than any others ever created in etching, blacks which were “not the blacks of shadows, but the black of night”.  Focillon states that “neither the seventeenth or the eighteenth century had produced anything equal” to the etchings of Piranesi, that the blacks of Rembrandt were “homogeneous and velvety” while those of Piranesi were “complex, heavy, rock-like, solid” and at the same time they “overflowed” (fourmillent) in their richness.  Focillon concludes “nothing in the history of etching could be compared to the second edition of the Carceri”.

Views of Rome: Frontispiece with Statue of Minerva

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Vedute di Roma (3^rd State), 1748
Views of Rome: Frontispiece with Statue of Minerva

Etching
498 x 631 mm.; 20 x 25 1/4 inches

Watermark:
Fleur-de-lys in a Double Circle (Hind 3)

Reference:
Hind 2 III/VII

Notes:

1. A fine impression of the 3^rd state (of seven) of this major work, the frontispiece for Piranesi’s Vedute di Roma.
2. In his one hundred thirty-five “Vedute di Roma, published over a period of some thirty-three years, Piranesi showed repeatedly that he was as interested in the interior construction of the depicted ruins as in their exterior appearance.  Thus, the structures, which Piranesi etched, were analyzed by him technically as well as from a purely archaeological and aesthetic standpoint.  The exterior harmony of a building, for Piranesi, was a function of its inner construction.  The building’s walls were not merely a surface but also a volume.  It was only in comprehending architecture under these varied aspects that the true grandeur and poetry of ancient Rome could be understood and correctly presented.  In considering the Vedute di Roma, in general, we see a gradual development from a lighter, silvery and more “Venetian” treatment of the earlier works to an increasingly stronger and complicated treatment of the later works.

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore with the Column from the Basilica of Constantine in the Foreground

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Veduta della Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore con le due Fabbriche laterali di detta Basilica (2^nd State), 1749
The Basilica of Saint Maria Maggiore with the Column from the Basilica of Constantine in the Foreground

Etching
400 x 545 mm.; 15 7/8 x 21 1/4 inches

Reference:
Hind 9 II/VI

Notes:

This rare and early impression is of the 2^nd state (of six) with the address of Bouchard, which is eliminated in the 3^rd state.

The Basilica of Constantine

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Veduta degli Avanzi del Tablino della Pace (3^rd State), 1757
The Basilica of Constantine

Etching
405 x 537 mm.; 16 3/8 x 21 1/4 inches

Reference:
Hind 45 III/VI

Notes:

A very fine impression, with the address and price, both which were eliminated in the following 4^th state.

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Veduta del Tempio di Antonio e Faustina in Campo Vaccino (3^rd State), 1758
The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina

Etching
403 x 537 mm.; 15 3/4 x 21 1/4 inches

Reference:
Hind 49 III/VI

Notes:

A very fine impression, with the address and price, both which were eliminated in the following 4^th state.

The Small Waterfall and Rapids at Tivoli

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Veduta delle Cascatelle a Tivoli (1^st State), 1769
The Small Waterfall and Rapids at Tivoli

Etching
480 x 710 mm.; 18 5/8 x 27 3/4 inches

Reference:
Hind 92 I/IV

Notes:

A very fine and rare impression of the 1^st state (of four) before the numbers added to the cartouche.

The Arch of Janus (Janus Quadrifons) with the Arch of the Moneychangers

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
Mogliano 1720 – 1778 Rome

Tempio detto volgarmente di Giano (1^st State), 1771
The Arch of Janus (Janus Quadrifons) with the Arch of the Moneychangers

Etching
470 x 708 mm.; 18 1/2 x 27 7/8 inches

References:
Hind 96 I/IV
Focillon 825

Notes:

A very fine and rare impression of Hind’s 1^st state (of four) before the addition of the numbers XX.92 in the cartouche.