Section of the sarcophagus of Costanza
Print
1756 (first), 1803-1807 (published)
1756 (first), 1803-1807 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This print is from Roman Antiquities vol. II, a bound volume of etchings by Giovanni Battista and his son Francesco Piranesi.
The prints comprise Volume 2 of 27 volumes of etchings published in Paris by the Calcographie des Piranesi frères (1800-1807). This volume contains 63 plates (folio and large folio), uniformly bound in red half morocco over marbled boards by Tessier, Paris (label in each volume), spines with raised bands gilt. For the complete set of prints in this volume see accession numbers: E.4035-4097-1908. The copperplates are in the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome.
The first edition of Piranesi’s Roman Antiquities was published in 1756, in four volumes, with the original title LE ANTICHITÀ ROMANE OPERA DI GIAMBATTISTA PIRANESI ARCHITETTO VENEZIANO DIVISA IN QUATTRO TOMI [...] IN ROMA MDCCLVI Nella Stamperia di Angelo Rotilj nel Palazzo de’ Massimi. Con licenza de' superiori si vendono in Roma dai Signori Bouchard, e Gravier Mercanti libraj al Corso presso san Marcello. Piranesi had obtained the sponsorship for this book from the Irish nobleman, Lord Charlemont, to whom it was dedicated. With the rapid accumulation of material the project expanded. Piranesi was promised Charlemont’s financial support for the four-volume work; however, by the time that the Antichità appeared in 1756, Charlemont had returned to Ireland and Piranesi, despite several letters to his patron, failed to receive the substantial payment he was counting on. In exasperation he eventually deleted the dedication to Charlemont from the main frontispiece to Volume I, and issued the Lettere di Giustificazione a Milord Charlemont as a defence of his action.
Further alterations took place when Francesco Piranesi issued another edition in 1784. In this, the much-altered title page to Volume I, which appears to have gone through at least three states in 1756-57, was change yet again, this time to receive a dedication to Gustav III of Sweden an important patron on Francesco. The plates of the Antichità include works by or after other artists, chiefly in Volume II and III. In the Antichità Piranesi consciously sets out to apply a completely new system of archaeological inquiry to the study of the remains of antiquity.
The first volume explains the urban structure of ancient Rome in terms of its walls, defences ad aqueducts as well as its civic and religious monuments. The next two volumes, which incorporate the plates of the Camera Sepolcrali, are devoted to the extensive remains of tombs ad funerary monuments around Rome. The final volume expounds the heroic feats of Roman engineering represented by bridges and monumental structures. According to Wilton Ely, the exaggerated scale and the concern with technology of these latter works, there are already signs of Piranesi’s attempts to counteract the increasing claims for the superiority of Greek art and architecture being made by Winkelman and Laugier.
The prints comprise Volume 2 of 27 volumes of etchings published in Paris by the Calcographie des Piranesi frères (1800-1807). This volume contains 63 plates (folio and large folio), uniformly bound in red half morocco over marbled boards by Tessier, Paris (label in each volume), spines with raised bands gilt. For the complete set of prints in this volume see accession numbers: E.4035-4097-1908. The copperplates are in the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome.
The first edition of Piranesi’s Roman Antiquities was published in 1756, in four volumes, with the original title LE ANTICHITÀ ROMANE OPERA DI GIAMBATTISTA PIRANESI ARCHITETTO VENEZIANO DIVISA IN QUATTRO TOMI [...] IN ROMA MDCCLVI Nella Stamperia di Angelo Rotilj nel Palazzo de’ Massimi. Con licenza de' superiori si vendono in Roma dai Signori Bouchard, e Gravier Mercanti libraj al Corso presso san Marcello. Piranesi had obtained the sponsorship for this book from the Irish nobleman, Lord Charlemont, to whom it was dedicated. With the rapid accumulation of material the project expanded. Piranesi was promised Charlemont’s financial support for the four-volume work; however, by the time that the Antichità appeared in 1756, Charlemont had returned to Ireland and Piranesi, despite several letters to his patron, failed to receive the substantial payment he was counting on. In exasperation he eventually deleted the dedication to Charlemont from the main frontispiece to Volume I, and issued the Lettere di Giustificazione a Milord Charlemont as a defence of his action.
Further alterations took place when Francesco Piranesi issued another edition in 1784. In this, the much-altered title page to Volume I, which appears to have gone through at least three states in 1756-57, was change yet again, this time to receive a dedication to Gustav III of Sweden an important patron on Francesco. The plates of the Antichità include works by or after other artists, chiefly in Volume II and III. In the Antichità Piranesi consciously sets out to apply a completely new system of archaeological inquiry to the study of the remains of antiquity.
The first volume explains the urban structure of ancient Rome in terms of its walls, defences ad aqueducts as well as its civic and religious monuments. The next two volumes, which incorporate the plates of the Camera Sepolcrali, are devoted to the extensive remains of tombs ad funerary monuments around Rome. The final volume expounds the heroic feats of Roman engineering represented by bridges and monumental structures. According to Wilton Ely, the exaggerated scale and the concern with technology of these latter works, there are already signs of Piranesi’s attempts to counteract the increasing claims for the superiority of Greek art and architecture being made by Winkelman and Laugier.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | Etching with engraving, ink on paper |
| Brief description | ‘Section of the sarcophagus of Costanza’, plate 25 from a set of 63 plates, G. Piranesi, Le Antichità Romane, vol.II, bound in Paris by Tessier, 1803-1807, etching with engraving by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Rome |
| Physical description | Landscape format engraving of the section of the sarcophagus of Costanza. The individual objects include an ossuary, and a heavily decorated column with a spike on the top. The letters A-D provide a key, which is explained in Italian at the bottom of the engraving. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | Upper right: ‘XXV’
Upper left: ‘Tom. II.’
Lower: ‘A Spaccato per traverso della grand'Urna col suo Coperchio scavato di dentro a simiglianza di una Volta a crociera. B Fianco della medesima, nel quale / veggonsi intrecciate a grottesco due Viti con fronde, e grappoli di uva. Nel mezzo sonovi tre Genj alati con bolle d'oro al collo, i quali unitam. te stanno in atto di pestare co' piedi l'uva, / raccolta in un gran tino con testa di leone dinanzi alla cui bocca forota si può supporre, che scorresse il mosto entro le grandi anfore di creta, che sono poste sotto allo stesso. La Mas-/ chera di Sileno, ed il Festone fregiano il lato al Coperchio, e corrispondono a quelle degli altri lati. Il Fianco opposto è simile in tutto al presente a riserba della Maschera di Bacco fanciul-/ lo, la quale abbiamo qui segnata C. D Altra Maschera di Baccante, situata nella parte di dietro. E Avanzo di Fregio di marmo, trovato tralle rovine. F Gran Candeliere di / marmo, ornato di varj grotteschi, fogliami, e festoni, composti di fiori, e frutti. Il Piedestallo ha negli angoli di sopra tre teste di Ariete; in quei di sotto tre Sfingi formate in grottesco; sic-/ come pure in grottesco sono i Genj delle facciate. Il lavoro è di eccellente Scalpello de' tempi migliori, imitato nelle opere loro da que' valentiss Professori del secolo decimo quinto, ed in oggi dagli / Oltramontani indefessi investigatori dell'ottimo, cercasi tutto giorno di estrarne il modello. G Bolle d'oro fedelm.te copiate dal marmo in forma più grande.’ Note The inscription explains the letters which are dotted about the engraving, highlighting different aspects. |
| Object history | The collection of volumes was previously owned by architect Decimus Burton (1800-1881) and his bookplate is pasted in the inside cover of this volume. |
| Production | Lettered on the spine of the volume: ‘G. PIRANESI/ LE / ANTICHITA’/ ROMANE/ VOL.II’ This volume of prints was bound by Tessier bookbinders, Paris, and has their trade label pasted on the inside cover of the volume: Rue de la Harpe, Au-dessus de celle de Médecine, no. 132; Tessier/ Relieur et doureur/ De la Trésorerie nationale du Bureau/ de la Guerre/ et Calcographie piranesi/ A Paris' Francesco and Pietro Piranesi set up the Calcographie des Piranèse Frères in Paris after having fled Rome in 1799. The Calcographie was active between 1800 and 1810. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Association | |
| Summary | This print is from Roman Antiquities vol. II, a bound volume of etchings by Giovanni Battista and his son Francesco Piranesi. The prints comprise Volume 2 of 27 volumes of etchings published in Paris by the Calcographie des Piranesi frères (1800-1807). This volume contains 63 plates (folio and large folio), uniformly bound in red half morocco over marbled boards by Tessier, Paris (label in each volume), spines with raised bands gilt. For the complete set of prints in this volume see accession numbers: E.4035-4097-1908. The copperplates are in the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome. The first edition of Piranesi’s Roman Antiquities was published in 1756, in four volumes, with the original title LE ANTICHITÀ ROMANE OPERA DI GIAMBATTISTA PIRANESI ARCHITETTO VENEZIANO DIVISA IN QUATTRO TOMI [...] IN ROMA MDCCLVI Nella Stamperia di Angelo Rotilj nel Palazzo de’ Massimi. Con licenza de' superiori si vendono in Roma dai Signori Bouchard, e Gravier Mercanti libraj al Corso presso san Marcello. Piranesi had obtained the sponsorship for this book from the Irish nobleman, Lord Charlemont, to whom it was dedicated. With the rapid accumulation of material the project expanded. Piranesi was promised Charlemont’s financial support for the four-volume work; however, by the time that the Antichità appeared in 1756, Charlemont had returned to Ireland and Piranesi, despite several letters to his patron, failed to receive the substantial payment he was counting on. In exasperation he eventually deleted the dedication to Charlemont from the main frontispiece to Volume I, and issued the Lettere di Giustificazione a Milord Charlemont as a defence of his action. Further alterations took place when Francesco Piranesi issued another edition in 1784. In this, the much-altered title page to Volume I, which appears to have gone through at least three states in 1756-57, was change yet again, this time to receive a dedication to Gustav III of Sweden an important patron on Francesco. The plates of the Antichità include works by or after other artists, chiefly in Volume II and III. In the Antichità Piranesi consciously sets out to apply a completely new system of archaeological inquiry to the study of the remains of antiquity. The first volume explains the urban structure of ancient Rome in terms of its walls, defences ad aqueducts as well as its civic and religious monuments. The next two volumes, which incorporate the plates of the Camera Sepolcrali, are devoted to the extensive remains of tombs ad funerary monuments around Rome. The final volume expounds the heroic feats of Roman engineering represented by bridges and monumental structures. According to Wilton Ely, the exaggerated scale and the concern with technology of these latter works, there are already signs of Piranesi’s attempts to counteract the increasing claims for the superiority of Greek art and architecture being made by Winkelman and Laugier. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | M-1400_74 - Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome – matrix inventory number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.4059-1908 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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