The Mind and Art of Giovanni Battista: Piranesi

by John Wilton-Ely

Piranesi has a powerful appeal for our time. His brilliance as a graphic artist, his transformation of the European vision of Classical antiquity, and his themes of fantasy have been the focus of considerable study in recent years. But though these aspects are important for an appreciation of Piranesi’s visual significance, they have tended to obscure other factors essential for a complete understanding of his unique achievement. In this copiously illustrated study, John Wilton-Ely – one of the world’s foremost authorities on Piranesi – offers a full reappraisal of the complex personality of an astonishingly versatile artist. His book covers every aspect of Piranesi’s life and work, emphasizing especially his importance as a pioneer of Roman archaeology, the high quality of his technical illustrations, and his role in the great Graeco-Roman debate of the 1760s. The author brings to life the Enlightenment world of the artist’s ideas – fundamentally bound up with the birth of Neo-Classicism – and the search for an appropriately modern form of expression; and he shows the practical and influential form taken by these ideas in Piranesi’s architectural projects, his designs for furniture and decorative schemes and his imaginative restoration of antiquities.

Genres: Art

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1978

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up an old file on a building I'd visited for work, and found somebody described it in the early 80s as having an effect both Piranesian and Gormenghastlian. I understood Gormenghastlian, but thought I ought to learn what he'd meant by Piranesian! It turned out to refer to to the work of an Italian architect and etcher of the 18th century (and my predecessor clearly thought knowledge of him would be a part of any good education), who specialised in illustrating old Roman structures and imaginary prisons - a lot of them reminded me of M C Escher. The text of this was quite dry, and I found it left me with more questions than it answered. One in particular related to his children. Both his son and daughter followed in his footsteps. The son was discussed in depth, even though his work was described as pedestrian. The daughter was dismissed in a single sentence - "Little is known of Laura Piranesi", which sent me to Google to see if that was still the case (this was published in the 70s) and it was suggested that her work equalled her father's, but still she seemed unknown. I really want to know more about her life and work, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there in English anyway. I'm going to have to ask my Italian colleague if she knows more.