Giovan Battista Piranesi and Classical Antiquity in Rome

Giovan Battista Piranesi and Classical Antiquity in Rome

The Briganti Library boasts a collection of ancient books enhanced by engravings, 8 volumes with original leather binding and marbled cardboard plates. All of them are undameged and provided with various prints made from etchings made by Giovan Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), namely Le Antichità Romane (1756), Della Magnificenza e d'Architettura de' Romani (1761), Il Campo Marzio dell'Antica Roma (1762), le Antichità d'Albano e Castelgandolfo (1764) and Lapides Capitolini sive Fasti Consulares Triumphalesque Romanorum (1762). Piranesi began his career as an architect in Venice, then in 1740 he moved to Rome embracing the role of draftsman in the service of the Venetian ambassador Francesco Venier. The cultural environment allows him to study both ancient and modern books and to practice etching technique. Piranesi was fascinated by Roman ruins to the point of creating art characterized by archeological references, prospective analysis and caprices.