 |
|
|
|
|
PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista (1720-1788) and Francesco PIRANESI (1758-1810)
Decursio Equitum, et Peditum in Funere Imperatoris Antonini Piie [Base of marble and travertine constructed during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV for the pedestal of the column, Ely 715]
Rome: Gio. Batti. Piranesi, [1774-1779]. Engraving. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling, minor foxing, and a few mild water stains in the right margin, one of which slightly extends into the lower right side of the image. Some mild discolouration along the sheet's two creases. Plate mark: 44 x 31 1/2 inches. Sheet size: 50 x 32 3/4 inches.
This remarkable etching of the base and one of the three decorative reliefs adorning the pedestal of the Antoninus Pius Column is from Piranesi's ''Trofeo o sia Magnifica'.
The adopted son of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius was the beneficent and well-loved emperor of Rome from 138-61 AD. After his death, his adopted sons and successors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius, the nephew of the empress Faustina, erected this commemorative column. It originally stood in the Campus Martius and consisted of a red granite monolith supported by a white marble pedestal decorated with reliefs depicting Antoninus' and Faustina's ascent to heaven, the elaborate ceremonies performed in their honour, and a memorial inscription.
Published toward the end of Piranesi's career, 'Trofeo o sia Magnifica' is comprised of three series of plates created between 1774 and 1779 that depict the colossal relief columns of Rome: the Trajan column, the Antonine column (of Marcus Aurelius), and the column of Antoninus and Faustina. With the assistance of Francesco Piranesi, Giovanni Battista's son, and Vincenzo Dolcibene, the three groups of plates were published as a single volume.
'Colonna...di Antonio Pio', the group of plates devoted to the Antoninus Pius Column, was the last of the three series to be completed (circa 1779).
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Venetian architect, draftsman, scholar, archaeologist, and designer, was tremendously influential in the development of neo-classicism. Patronized by both foreign tourists and Italians including Pope Clement XIII, he was internationally renowned for his etchings of the scenery and ruins of classical Rome.
Piranesi, the son of a stonemason, was born in 1720 in the village of Mogliano, near Venice. Pursuing an early ambition to become an architect, he was apprenticed to his uncle Matteo Lucchesi, a prominent architect and hydraulic engineer, and then to the Palladian architect Giovanni Scalfurotto. He later studied etching and perspective composition in the workshop of Carlo Zucchi. In 1740, he traveled to Rome where he studied set design with Domenico and Giuseppe Valeriani and engraving with Giuseppe Vasi.
Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Complete Etchings , 715.
|
#12328 $3,000.00 
|
Copyright © 2002-2010 Donald A. Heald
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
