Piranesi Drawings: Visions of Antiquity

by Sarah Vowles

The Venetian-born artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) is best known for his dramatic etchings of the architecture and antiquities of his adopted home city of Rome and for his extraordinary flights of spatial fancy, such as Le Carceri (“Prisons”).
Published to coincide with an exhibition at the British Museum, this volume explores Piranesi’s celebrated skill as a draftsman. While many studies are concerned with Piranesi’s activities as a printmaker, this beautifully illustrated book examines new dimensions of his art by focusing on his drawings. Curator and author Sarah Vowles establishes a clear relationship between his drawings and prints, discusses the involvement of studio hands in his late works, and examines how his style as a draftsman evolved.


Piranesi Drawings reveals the quality and lasting impact of the pen and chalk studies by a remarkably talented draftsman, as demonstrated by the superb collection at the British Museum.

Genres: Art History

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 21, 2020

Reviews

[John Isles]

We had planned a trip to England, and the British Museum had planned to put on an exhibition of drawings by the artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, but along came COVID-19, our trip was cancelled, and the Museum was closed. Nevertheless they have published the catalogue of the exhibition, so we can study at leisure what we missed, and in fact study it more closely than we would probably have done in the Museum.

Piranesi is best known for his engravings, especially those of the remains of ancient Rome that were still to be seen in the 18th century. Several of his prints decorate walls of our house. These drawings are quite different from the prints. Drawn in charcoal and ink, and often with a colored wash, they range from a price list in Piranesi's hand for volumes of prints, through doodles and preliminary sketches, to what we must presume to be drafts for completed engravings, though few of these correspond to any of his published works.

By opening a window onto Piranesi's imagination the drawings show another dimension of the artist. The British Museum was still closed at the time of writing but when it does reopen it may still be possible to visit the exhibition, which was scheduled to run until August 9, 2020.

[Shyue Chou Chuang]

This is an excellent volume, meant to be a catalogue for a British Museum exhibition of Piranesi's drawings which never did take place due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Descriptive captions accompany each drawing, dating it and also locating it. Piranesi's motivations are also discussed as is his location. The drawings featured are drawn with pencil, chalk and ink, from loose drawings with great fluidity to those that are more composed and finished. In most cases, the drawings are rather loose and was likely to serve as studies into his more formal engravings and designs.

Note: The volume and the never held exhibition did not include his famous Imaginary Prisons pieces. None of his engravings are included.

[Jonathan Natusch]

Got this one as part of the rabbit hole I went down after reading Susanna Clarke's 'Piranesi'. I was hoping to see some pictures of his imagined prisons, but I guess those will require another rabbit hole purchase...