Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

[Antique print, etching, Piranesi] Tre Sale Sepolcrali, credute della Famiglia di Augusto. (plan and section of 3 tomb chambers of the Household of Augustus), published 1756-1784, 1 p.

Name: [Antique print, etching, Piranesi] Tre Sale Sepolcrali, credute della Famiglia di Augusto. (plan and section of 3 tomb chambers of the Household of Augustus), published 1756-1784, 1 p.
SKU: PR120796
Price: 210.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Plate XL from the II 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. Title within the illustration plate. Description in a second text plate.

Titled below: ‘Tre Sale Sepolcrali, credute della Famiglia di Augusto.‘

Signed on the bottom right: ‘Piranesi Architetto del. ed inc.’

“Piranesi illustrates in three plates (XL-XLII) a sepulcher with columbaria on the walls found on the ancient Via Appia, outside Porta San Sebastiano (Spera 1999, p. 168), the ruins of which can still be seen on the left after the crossroads of via Ardeatina (Cressedi 1975, p. 279).
Based on the direct observation of the details of the building, the author believes it may be a burial from the time of Augustus, not departing from the hypothesis advanced by Fabretti (1680, who was the first to investigate the burial, which was also echoed by Ficoroni 1732 , p. 64), according to which the complex must have belonged to the emperor’s own family.
In this first plate, engraved in etching with some direct technique interventions, the author faces the plan and section elevation of the monument. He distributes on the surface of the slab, around the main explanatory nucleus, the representations of some details that support the pictorial and decorative value of the composition, in addition to the strictly archaeological one.
In the upper section there are a few burin touches on the building’s support ground, for example at the base of the wall on the far right; modest portions of the figure, corresponding to light points, have been preserved from the deeper corrosion of the acid through the reserve varnish.
The plan reconstructs the different components of the masonry, reserving from the etching extension those parts of the perimeter structure that were in ruins, and which therefore must have been lighter in print. In the lower right corner of the plate, the enlargement of a section of the wall is engraved to demonstrate its materials and construction technique […].
In the lower register, on the other hand, the engraving language is adapted to figurative passages inherent to the subject of the table and ideally connected to each other, with a more strictly pictorial character (the wall, the sarcophagus, the columbarium): the burin retouches become more marked and the reserve paint is distributed with frequent brushstrokes for a final effect greater chiaroscuro vibration, to which is added the illusionistic device of a front fragment of a strigilated sarcophagus that breaks through the frame overlapping the title of the table (note the construction line of the frame, dry engraved on the plate before applying the preparation varnish for the etching, which crosses the fragment).[…].” (Giovanna Scaloni, ICG, Rome).

Translated title: Plan and section of the three large tomb chambers thought to belong to the Household of Augustus / Plattegrond en doorsnede van de drie grote grafkamers waarvan men dacht dat ze behoorden tot het huishouden van Augustus.

SKU: PR120796

Etching with some interventions in burin on hand laid paper, with broad margins; plate mark: 450 x 488 mm; text plate: 49 x 481 mm; total 558 x 798 mm; a damp stain on the bottom margin, some tiny holes within plate, somewhat frayed end margins with some rubbing, otherwise in great condition.

€ 254,10 (€ 210,00 ex. btw)

In stock