Giovanni Battista Piranesi
(Italian, 1720–1778)
The Arch with a Shell Ornament, plate 11 of Carceri d’invenzioni (Imaginary Prisons)
Object Details
Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Date
1761
Medium
Etching on laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 16 1/4 x 21 3/4 inches (41.3 x 55.2 cm)
Sheet: 21 1/4 x 27 1/2 inches (54 x 69.9 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the Membership Purchase Fund
Object
Number
69.075
Carceri d’Invenzione is a series of invented prison scenes by the great Italian etcher Giovanni Ba(…)
Carceri d’Invenzione is a series of invented prison scenes by the great Italian etcher Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Large-scale, virtuoso compositions, these prints brim with dramatic detail and impossible architectural intricacy. Piranesi allowed his inventiveness free rein and in the process influenced many subsequent generations of artists, including M. C. Escher, the Dutch twentieth-century master of mathematical illusion. (“Escaping the Ordinary: Artistic Imagination in Early Modern Prints,” co-curated by Andrew C. Weisologel and Brittany Rubin, presented at the Johnson Museum January 21-June 11, 2017)
