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Gianbattista Piranesi
Mozano di Mestre, Venice 1720 – 1778 Rome
Funerary Monument of a Boar’s headed Rhyton
found in a tomb on the Via Appia
Funerary Monument of a Boar’s headed Rhyton
found in a tomb on the Via Appia
Wilton-Ely 903
525 x 383 mm
Original etching, the plate signed.
Dedicated to the Conte di Lincoln.
With the plate number 98 of Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi disegnati ed incise dal Cav. Gio. Batt. Piranesi.
A later impression, on unwatermarked laid paper.
Usual central horizonal fold.
A little offset text staining recto, some pressure cockling. Foxed verso.
£400
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Additional
Information about the Print
The Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi
disegnati ed incise dal Cav. Gio. Batt. Piranesi
(Vases, candelabra, grave stones, sarcophagi, tripods, lamps and ornaments designed and etched by Cavaliere Giovanni Battista Piranesi)
Increasingly after the death of Pope Clement XIII Piranesi relied on restoring and selling newly excavated antiquities to supplement his income from print selling. He had a ‘museum’ and showrooms as well as workshops in his home in Palazzo Tomati. His approach to the works he restored was creative and imaginative and had a great influence on interior design of the day.
From 1768 Piranesi published over a hundred individual plates of notable antiquities either for sale or in private collections, dedicated to individual customers, many of whom were members of the English aristocracy.
Piranesi’s son Francesco re-issued the plates, for the first time collectively, bound in two volumes, in 1778, the year of Piranesi’s death. For that or subsequent editions, the plates were numbered.
Lettered at the foot of the plate with such details as it probably being the funerary monument of a free man from the Imperial household. And also that it and other antiquities can be seen at Piranesi’s showroom.
The earlier of two plates showing the same monument, but with different plinths and supports, the later version being much more grandly presented.
Today, the monument is in the National Museum, Stockholm.
Prints from Vasi.. ed Ornamenti Antichi in this exhibition are:
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