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Piranesi
History
G. B. Piranesi, engraving by
F. Piranesi after a portrait by J. Cadès, 1779
Giovanni
Battista Piranesi was born in Venice in 1720. He was trained as an architect,
became an artist and designer, and was the presiding genius
of the Neo-Classical movement in Italy. In 1740,
he went to Rome where he began documenting by means of engravings
the ancient architectural ruins located there. |
His major work, Le
antichita romaine,
a series of etchings of Roman buildings, began to appear in
1756 and presented a new and extremely dramatic vision of the
grandeur and magnificence of Roman architecture. In the mid-1760’s
he was commissioned to decorate an apartment in the Quirinal
Palace in Rome; the designs for the furniture in this apartment
were included in his folio published in 1760, Diverse maniere
d’adornare
cammini ed igni altra parte degli edifici. This folio includes
designs for tables, chairs, picture frames, wall-lights, vases,
clock-cases, etc. as well as some chimneypieces. The majority
of these designs were distinctly Neo-Classical and overloaded
with antique motifs such as palmettes, lion monopods, and sphinxes.
Piranesi also included Egyptian motifs in his work.
His folios,
which were widely circulated, excited tremendous interest in
ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian cultures, and broadly affected
trends in art, architecture, decorative arts and furniture. |
