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Kupferstichkabinett
Exhibition Piranesi „Vedute di Roma – Ansichten von Rom“
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Biography
4 October 1720 Giovanni Battista Piranesi born as the son of the stonemason, Angelo
Piranesi, and his wife, Laura, née Lucchesi, in or near Venice.
Around 1735-1740 Piranesi is trained as an architect by his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi.
After that he develops his knowledge further in the workshop of Antonio Scalfarotto. The
engraver, Carlo Zucchi, teaches Piranesi the technique of etching, introduces him to the
rules of perspective and familiarizes him with the art of vedute.
September 1740 First journey to Rome as a draughtsman in the retinue of the Venetian
ambassador, Francesco Venier.
1740-42 Piranesi completes a short course of training as stage designer in Rome. After
that he enters the workshop of Giuseppe Vasi, the most famous vedute engraver of the
time.
1743/44 The first series of Prima Parte di Architetture, e Prospettive, melancholy views
of ruins, appears. Collaboration with Carlo Nolli on the Pianta piccola di Roma moderna, a
city plan of Rome issued in 1748. He quarrels with Giuseppe Vasi. Because of his financial
situation, Piranesi is forced to return to Venice.
1745-47 Piranesi perfects his art of etching, possibly in the workshop of Giovanni
Battista Tiepolo. He starts work on the Carceri, fantastic, nightmarish architectures
inspired by stage scenery.
1747 Piranesi settles finally in Rome as an agent for the engraver and art dealer, Joseph
Wagner. His premises in the Via del Corso enable a close exchange with the French
Academy. Giovanni Paolo Panini in particular, teacher at the Academy and Rome's most
famous vedute painter, has a lasting influence on Piranesi.
1748 Collaboration with Giovanni Battista Nolli on Nuova Pianta di Roma. The first sheets
of the Vedute di Roma, a series of ultimately 137 large etchings of ancient and modern
attractions in Rome, are printed.
1749/50 perhaps the most impressive series by Piranesi, the Carceri, is issued on
fourteen sheets.
1756 The first volume of a four-volume edition of Antichità Romane, a presentation of
Roman antiquities with scholarly pretensions, appears. Piranesi becomes famous
throughout Europe.
1761 The Carceri are published in a second edition, radically revised and supplemented
by two sheets to a series of sixteen.
1761-77 Piranesi undertakes journeys to Tivoli, Pompei, Paestum and Herculaneum to
intensify his studies of antiquity on location. Starting in 1761, he publishes the oeuvre
that has appeared to date in a Catalogo delle Opere, which appears in the course of the
years following in numerous editions, supplemented by newly created sheets and series.
1767 Pope Clemens VIII dubs Piranesi knight. From then on he signs with the title,
Cavaliere Piranesi.
Around 1774, Piranesi etches the Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzio, a city plan of
Rome that is appended to the editions of the Vedute to assist readers' orientation.
On 9 September 1778 Piranesi dies, leaving behind an oeuvre comprising 1020
etchings in total. His sons compile the complete catalogue of his works in 1792 and
publish the first complete edition in Paris from 1800 to 1807.