Frontispiece

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Artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, October 4, 1720–November 9, 1778)

Title Frontispiece (Prima parte di architetture, e prospettive . . .)

Plate Number Plate 1

Series Part One of Architecture and Perspectives

Date 1743

Medium Etching on paper

Dimensions Image: 13 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. (35.2 x 25.1 cm)
Plate: 14 x 10 1/16 in. (35.6 x 25.6 cm)
Sheet: 20 5/16 x 15 7/16 in. (51.6 x 39.2 cm)

Credit Line Collection of Diether Thimme, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 98.279.1

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About this Work

Inspired by the ruined grandeur of Rome and depressed by the mediocre quality of contemporary architecture, Giovanni Battista Piranesi launched a series of prints to challenge the builders of his own day. This frontispiece to his portfolio of sixteen images presents the tumbled and overgrown remnants of a heroic past, visited by puny figures who attempt to read the lessons Piranesi found in the “speaking ruins.”

The Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art has three prints from this series and the frontispiece (Eskenazi Museum of Art 98.279.1-.4)

Provenance
More Details

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Plate Number Plate 1
Series Title Part One of Architecture and Perspectives

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"Frontispiece | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=98.279.1