Veduta del Porto di Ripetta. [The Smaller Harbour of Ripetta].

PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista.

Published by RomePresso l'Autore c., 1769

About this Item

Original etching from the "Vedute di Roma". (40 x 60 cm. sheet 53 x 76 cm.) Good broad margins, original vertical centrefold indistinctly visible, excellent condition. Life-time Rome edition on thick laid paper, fourth state (of eight), with address and price, double-ringed fleur de lys watermark (H.,9,3). By 1747, Piranesi had begun the work for which he is best known, the Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome), and he continued to produce plates for the series until the year of his death in 1778. Piranesi's popular Vedute, which eclipsed earlier views of Roman landmarks through their dynamic compositions, bold lighting effects, and dramatic presentation, shaped European conceptions to such an extent that Goethe, who had come to know Rome through Piranesi's prints, was somewhat disappointed on his first encounter with the real thing (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Through this work, which was spread all over the Continent by means of the Grand Tour, Piranesi was not only to revolutionize the conventional form of the veduta but was to transform the European vision of classical antiquity (Wilton-Ely). (Hind, 28 iv/viii; Wilton-Ely, 155).

Seller Inventory # 62191

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Veduta del Porto di Ripetta. [The Smaller Harbour of Ripetta].
• Publisher: RomePresso l'Autore c.
• Publication Date: 1769
• Seller catalogs:
  • PRINTS - PIRANESI
  • Vedute