- Museum number
- 1908,0616.6
- Description
-
Architectural interior with a crossing beneath a dome
Pen and brown ink, ink gall losses
- Production date
- 1752-1760
- Dimensions
-
Height: 199 millimetres
-
Width: 275 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Hind wrote that the design was probably imaginary and not from an existing building, though he remarked that the general conception was like that of the transept of St Peter's in Rome. In fact the architecture is really quite close to the transept or crossing of the church, albeit with Bernini's baldachin removed and with some adjustments - like the addition of arched openings above the cornices. Wilton-Ely went so far as to suggest that this is an early idea for the interior view of St Peter's in the 'Vedute di Roma' (J. Wilton-Ely, 'Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the complete etchings', San Francisco, 1994, I, no. 235). The two views are in fact very different as in the print the viewpoint is a conventional one looking from the nave towards the high altar, including Bernini's baldachin, and not as here from an angle. Stylistically the frenetic hatching and the use of the nib turned on its side to create thick, messy inklines goes well with 1908,0616.39 and 46. These drawings have generally been dated to the late 1740s or early 1750s (for this see the entry for 1908,0616.46), on stylistic grounds there is good reason to place them later in the 1750s or early 1760s.
HC
Lit.: A.M. Hind, 'Vasari Society', 1st series, VII, 1911-12, no. 15; H. Leporini, 'Die Stilentwicklung der Handzeichnungen', Vienna, 1925, p. 74, pl. 271; H.O. Corfiato, 'Piranesi compositions', London, 1951, p. 12, no. 53; H. Thomas, 'The Drawings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi', London, 1954, under no.133; idem, 'De Tekeningen van Piranesi in het Museum Boymans', "Bulletin Museum Boymans", 8, 1957, p. 11; E. Croft-Murray, in exhib. cat., BM, 'Giovanni Battista Piranesi', 1968, no. 133; J. Wilton-Ely, in exhib. cat., London, South Bank, 'Piranesi', 1978, no. 102b; A. Bettagno, in exhib. cat., Venice, Fondazione Cini, 'Disegni di Giambattista Piranesi', 1978, no. 29
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1968 BM, 'Piranesi', no. 27
1978 Aug-Oct, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, 'Piranesi', no. 29
1978 Hayward Gallery, 'Piranesi', no. 102b
2020 20 Feb-9 Aug, London, BM, 'Piranesi drawings'.
- Acquisition date
- 1908
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1908,0616.6
