Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720-1778
The Round Tower, plate 3 from the second edition of Carceri d'invenzione (Imaginary Prisons)
INV-7462
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720-17781750, reworked 1761
The Round Tower, plate 3 from the second edition of Carceri d'invenzione (Imaginary Prisons)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Italian, 1720-1778 →etchingprint
Date
1750, reworked 1761
Medium
Etching, engraving, sulphur tint, and burnishing in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 54.2 × 41 cm (21 3/8 × 16 3/16 in.); Plate: 54.9 × 41.6 cm (21 5/8 × 16 7/16 in.); Sheet: 56.1 × 42.5 cm (22 1/8 × 16 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Joseph Brooks Fair Memorial Collection
In addition to dramatic views of Roman architecture, Giovanni Battista Piranesi created a series of prison interiors that were entirely invented. These vast, entangled passageways and cavernous chambers were first printed around 1750. Ten years later, Piranesi reworked the plates, heightening their ominous
state in an implied critique of social injustice.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
View of Ponte Lugano on the Anio, from Views of Rome
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720-1778) published by Francesco (Italian, 1758-1810) and Pietro Piranesi (Italian, born 1758/9)
The Giant Wheel, plate 9 from Imaginary Prisons
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Italian, 1720-1778
Villa Pamphili outside Porta S. Pancrazio, from Views of Rome
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720-1778) published by Francesco (Italian, 1758-1810) and Pietro Piranesi (Italian, born 1758/9)
