- Museum number
- 1908,0616.11
- Description
-
A staircase leading to a huge, ornate triumphal arch; with two groups of sculpture near the foreground
Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over red chalk
- Production date
- 1745-1750 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 147 millimetres
-
Width: 211 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Dated by Thomas to c. 1745-8, a dating confirmed by its similarity to the Hamburg drawing for one of the 'Carceri' prints of 1749/50 (Thomas, no. 3).
HC
Presumably a preliminary idea for the "View of a Magnificent Harbour", a plate from the "Opere Varie di Architettura, Prospettive, Grotteschi, Antichità" of 1750. Even though the individual elements are quite different, the overall composition, with steps leading from the foreground up to a grandiose arch in the background. The abstract dark objects in the foreground of the drawing also seem to be boats, propelled by men with poles, strengthening the relationship between drawing and print.
SV
Lit.: H. Thomas, 'The Drawings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi', London, 1954, no. 19; E. Croft-Murray, in exhib. cat., BM, 'Giovanni Battista Piranesi', 1968, no. 108; R. Bacou, 'Piranèse, gravures et dessins', Paris, 1974, p. 39; J. Wilton-Ely, in exhib. cat., London, South Bank, 'Piranesi', 1978, no. 42c; J.-F. Méjanès, in exhib. cat., Rome, Villa Medici, Dijon, Palais des États de Bourgogne and Paris, Hôtel de Sully, 'Piranèse et les Français', 1976, no. 147
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1968 BM, 'Piranesi', no. 22
1976 May-June, Rome, Villa Medici, 'Piranesi and the French', no. 147
1976 Jul-Sept, Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, 'Piranesi', no. 147
1976 Oct-Nov, Paris, Hotel de Sully, 'Piranesi', no. 147
1978, London, Hayward Gallery, 'Piranesi', no. 42c
1996/7 Dec-Feb, Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz, 'Capriccio', no. Z-20
1997 Mar-Jun, Zürich, Kunsthaus, 'Capriccio', no. Z-20
1997 Jul-Sep, Vienna, Kunsthist Mus, 'Capriccio', no.Z-20
2002/3, Oct-April, BM, 'Piransesi's 'Carceri' (Prisons)', (no cat.)
2003 May-July, Sth Bank Tour, Northumbria Univ Gall, Piranesi's Carceri
2003 July-Oct, Sth Bank Tour, York, City AG, Piranesi's Carceri
2003 Oct-Dec, Sth Bank Tour, Milton Keynes AG, Piranesi's Carceri
2003/4 Dec-Feb, Sth Bank Tour, Bath, Victoria AG, Piranesi's Carceri
2020 20 Feb-9 Aug, London, BM, 'Piranesi's drawings'.
- Acquisition date
- 1908
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1908,0616.11