Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

[Antique print, etching, Piranesi] Pianta del Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella moglie di M. Crasso Triumviro. (Plans of mausoleum of Caecilia Metella), published 1756-1784, 1 p.

Name: [Antique print, etching, Piranesi] Pianta del Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella moglie di M. Crasso Triumviro. (Plans of mausoleum of Caecilia Metella), published 1756-1784, 1 p.
SKU: PR120829
Price: 160.00 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

Plate XLIX from the III out of four volumes collection Le Antichità Romane collecting plates by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, firstly published by Angelo Rotili in Rome between 1756 and 1757. The second edition appeared in 1784. Original wide margins, no traces of binding or folding. Two plates, one with illustration, the other with explanatory text.

Titled below: ‘Pianta del Mausoleo di Cecilia Metella moglie di M. Crasso Triumviro.’ Pianta del mausoleo di Cecilia Metella moglie di M. Crasso Triumviro, situato sull’antica Via Appia, poco distante dalla Chiesa di S. Sebastiano fuori delle Mura.

Signed on the bottom right: ‘Piranesi Archit. dis. ed inc.‘.

“The plate illustrates the architectural reliefs of the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, whose construction dates back to the 1st century BC. […] Like other monuments of ancient Rome, starting from the Renaissance also the imposing tomb of this noblewoman, daughter of the consul Quinto Metello Cretico and daughter-in-law of the triumvir Marco Licinio Crasso, was the object of the interest of scholars, antiquaries, painters and engravers. On the basis of this tradition, Piranesi reproduced the mausoleum several times […]. This is probably because this subject, perhaps more than others, interested the Venetian architect not only for the landscape and archaeological aspect but also, as he himself explains in the following plates, for the technical aspect inherent to the systems of building him.
In the plate in question Piranesi shows a scrupulous analysis of the monument, from which he eliminates the medieval superfetations, grouping in a single composition the profile, the plan, the section and three details of the wall structure. […]”[Ciro Salinitro, ICG Rome]

Translated title: Plans of the mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, wife of the Triumvir Marcus Crassus, situated in the ancient Appian Way, not far from the Church of S. Sebastiano fuori delle Mura [St. Sebastian outside the Walls…]Plans of the mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, wife of the Triumvir Marcus Crassus, situated in the ancient Appian Way, not far from the Church of S. Sebastiano fuori delle Mura [St. Sebastian outside the Walls…].

About mausoleum of Caecilia Metella, wife of the Triumvir Marcus Crassus, situated in the ancient Appian Way, not far from the Church of S. Sebastiano fuori delle Mura [St. Sebastian outside the Walls…].

SKU: PR120829

Etching with some interventions in burin on hand laid paper, with broad margins; plate mark: 435 x 517 mm; total 545 x 795 mm; somewhat frayed end margins, otherwise in great condition. Visible watermark.

€ 193,60 (€ 160,00 ex. btw)

Out of stock