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Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate 10 from Imaginary Prisons Carceri d'Invenzione

Date

1745

Creator

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Location

Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Giovanni Battista Piranesi is celebrated as a gifted printmaker, designer, architect, and archeologist. He is particularly famous for his remarkable series of etchings of topographical views and architectural fantasies. Probably most extraordinary and enduring among these is his series Carceri d’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), which was initially published about 1745. These startling images of prison interiors apparently derived from the artist’s imagination, as well as from his knowledge of Baroque stage design. When the etchings were first issued, there was a certain sense of lightness and delicacy to the fantastic architectural imagery. In a second edition, Piranesi completely reworked the plates, rendering the lines more heavily and creating more emphatic contrasts of light and dark. In addition to the astonishingly vast and perplexing architectural imagery of arches, walkways, and massive stonework, Piranesi included large and small figures, cables, ropes, and instruments of torture. Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate ten from the second edition, shows the awesome power and haunting content that has made the prints timeless and relevant to succeeding generations. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi is celebrated as a gifted printmaker, designer, architect, and archeologist. He is particularly famous for his remarkable series of etchings of topographical views and architectural fantasies. Probably most extraordinary and enduring among these is his series Carceri d’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), which was initially published about 1745. These startling images of prison interiors apparently derived from the artist’s imagination, as well as from his knowledge of Baroque stage design. When the etchings were first issued, there was a certain sense of lightness and delicacy to the fantastic architectural imagery. In a second edition, Piranesi completely reworked the plates, rendering the lines more heavily and creating more emphatic contrasts of light and dark. In addition to the astonishingly vast and perplexing architectural imagery of arches, walkways, and massive stonework, Piranesi included large and small figures, cables, ropes, and instruments of torture. Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate ten from the second edition, shows the awesome power and haunting content that has made the prints timeless and relevant to succeeding generations. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
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  • Giovanni Battista Piranesi is celebrated as a gifted printmaker, designer, architect, and archeologist. He is particularly famous for his remarkable series of etchings of topographical views and architectural fantasies. Probably most extraordinary and enduring among these is his series Carceri d’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), which was initially published about 1745. These startling images of prison interiors apparently derived from the artist’s imagination, as well as from his knowledge of Baroque stage design. When the etchings were first issued, there was a certain sense of lightness and delicacy to the fantastic architectural imagery. In a second edition, Piranesi completely reworked the plates, rendering the lines more heavily and creating more emphatic contrasts of light and dark. In addition to the astonishingly vast and perplexing architectural imagery of arches, walkways, and massive stonework, Piranesi included large and small figures, cables, ropes, and instruments of torture. Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate ten from the second edition, shows the awesome power and haunting content that has made the prints timeless and relevant to succeeding generations. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Giovanni Battista Piranesi is celebrated as a gifted printmaker, designer, architect, and archeologist. He is particularly famous for his remarkable series of etchings of topographical views and architectural fantasies. Probably most extraordinary and enduring among these is his series Carceri d’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), which was initially published about 1745. These startling images of prison interiors apparently derived from the artist’s imagination, as well as from his knowledge of Baroque stage design. When the etchings were first issued, there was a certain sense of lightness and delicacy to the fantastic architectural imagery. In a second edition, Piranesi completely reworked the plates, rendering the lines more heavily and creating more emphatic contrasts of light and dark. In addition to the astonishingly vast and perplexing architectural imagery of arches, walkways, and massive stonework, Piranesi included large and small figures, cables, ropes, and instruments of torture. Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate ten from the second edition, shows the awesome power and haunting content that has made the prints timeless and relevant to succeeding generations. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
  • Giovanni Battista Piranesi is celebrated as a gifted printmaker, designer, architect, and archeologist. He is particularly famous for his remarkable series of etchings of topographical views and architectural fantasies. Probably most extraordinary and enduring among these is his series Carceri d’invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), which was initially published about 1745. These startling images of prison interiors apparently derived from the artist’s imagination, as well as from his knowledge of Baroque stage design. When the etchings were first issued, there was a certain sense of lightness and delicacy to the fantastic architectural imagery. In a second edition, Piranesi completely reworked the plates, rendering the lines more heavily and creating more emphatic contrasts of light and dark. In addition to the astonishingly vast and perplexing architectural imagery of arches, walkways, and massive stonework, Piranesi included large and small figures, cables, ropes, and instruments of torture. Prisoners on a Projecting Platform, plate ten from the second edition, shows the awesome power and haunting content that has made the prints timeless and relevant to succeeding generations. from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720 - 1778)
1745
Prints
Etching on thick wove paper
1970.045
fantasy
intaglio prints
prisoners
prisons
Not on view, please request access
21 1/8 x 27 3/4 in. (53.66 x 70.49 cm)
Art Purchases Fund

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