When Piranesi arrived in Rome in 1740, his drawings were cautious, careful, seeking to be liked. Some scholars believe that he spent time studying with the Bibiena family, the leading producers of stage sets at this period. We see a young Piranesi who’s been formed in the world of Canaletto and Palladio. That’s the world we’re in with these earliest drawings. The strings to his bow included: being able to advise on ancient monuments and, if necessary, to restore them being able to discourse on theoretical issues and being able to design elegant backdrops for the theatre or the opera, using his knowledge of perspective and architectural design. He learned a whole range of skills, designed to keep him afloat even at times where there was no call for him to design buildings.
Imagine the young Piranesi, training to be an architect in his native Venice in the years between 17. These elegant, cool-toned views show buildings in strict perspective, like structures from a theatrical backdrop. The earliest surviving drawings by Piranesi don’t look like Piranesi at all. Join me below the line for an unofficial romp through Piranesi’s life and work. There’ll be traces of ‘your’ Piranesi here, whether you know him best as a visionary printmaker or a methodical antiquarian, but I hope you’ll also get a sense of just how exuberant and wide-ranging his talents were. It’s one of the richest collections in the world, spanning his career from his arrival in Rome in 1740, as a young man of twenty, to his death in 1778 as one of the most influential and admired advocates of ancient Roman architecture. Piranesi drawings: visions of antiquity presents all 51 of the Museum’s drawings by Piranesi.
Piranesi prints free#
In a completely shameless act of self-promotion, I wanted to flag a free exhibition at the British Museum (curated by me), running from tomorrow until 9 August 2020. One way to get a broader sense of Piranesi’s achievements, as architect, designer, printmaker, publisher and art dealer, is by looking at his drawings and, by happy chance, you can do just that at the moment here in London. What do you think of when you think of Piranesi? Labyrinthine staircases and ominous prisons? The ruined monuments of ancient Rome? Marble vases brought home by Grand Tourists and Swedish kings? All of these would be absolutely correct, but each of them offers only one facet of the man. (British Museum, London, 20 February until 9 August 2020)
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