Paper prisons by giovanni piranesi. Chronicles of mental travel Giovanni battista piranese engravings in excellent quality

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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Biography and creativity.

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi (ital. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Giambattista Piranesi; 1720-1778) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, engraver, draftsman, master of architectural landscapes. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of romantic style artists and - later - on the surrealists.

Gianbattista Piranesi born October 4, 1720 in Mogliano Veneto(near the city Treviso), in the family of a stonemason. Real surname families Piranese(from the name of the place Pirano d'Istria, from where the stone for buildings was supplied) acquired in Rome the sound of " Piranesi".

His father was a stone carver, and in his youth Piranesi worked in his father's workshop L'Orbo Celega on Grand Canal who carried out the orders of the architect D. Rossi. Studied architecture from his uncle, an architect and engineer Matteo Lucchesi as well as the architect G. A. Scalfarotto. He studied the techniques of perspective painters, took lessons in engraving and perspective painting from Carlo Zucchi, famous engraver, author of a treatise on optics and perspective (brother of the painter Antonio Zucchi); independently studied treatises on architecture, read the works of ancient authors (his mother's brother, the abbot, was addicted to reading). In the circle of interests of the young Piranesi also included history and archaeology.

As an artist, he was significantly influenced by art vedutists, very popular in the middle of the XVIII century in Venice.

In 1740 he left forever Veneto and since that time he has lived and worked in Rome. Piranesi came to the Eternal City as an engraver and graphic artist as part of the embassy delegation of Venice. He was supported by the ambassador himself Marco Foscarini, senator Abbondio Rezzonico, nephew of the "Venetian Pope" Clement XIII Rezzonico- Prior of the Order of Malta, as well as the "Venetian Pope" himself; the most zealous admirer of talent Piranesi became a collector of his works Lord Carlemont. Piranesi independently improved in drawing and engraving, worked in Palazzo di Venezia, the residence of the Venetian ambassador in Rome; studied engravings J. Vazi. In a workshop Giuseppe Vasi young Piranesi studied the art of engraving on metal. From 1743 to 1747 he lived for the most part in Venice, where, among other things, he worked with Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Piranesi was a highly educated man, but unlike Palladio did not write treatises on architecture. A certain role in shaping the style Piranesi played Jean Laurent Le Gue(1710-1786), famous French draftsman and architect, who worked in Rome from 1742, close to the circle of students French Academy in Rome, with whom he himself was friendly Piranesi.

In Rome Piranesi became a passionate collector: his workshop in Palazzo Tomati on Strada Felice, full of antique marbles, was described by many travelers. He was fond of archeology, participated in the measurements of ancient monuments, sketched found works of sculpture and arts and crafts. He liked to reconstruct them, like the famous Warwick crater(now in the collection of the Burrell Museum, ca. Glasgow), which he acquired in the form of separate fragments from a Scottish painter G. Hamilton, also fond of excavations.

The first known works - a series of engravings Prima Parte di architettura e Prospettive(1743) and Varie Vedute di Roma(1741) - bore the imprint of the manner of engravings J. Vazi with strong effects of light and shadow, highlighting the dominant architectural monument and at the same time the techniques of stage designers Veneto using "angular perspective". In the spirit of Venetian capricci Piranesi combined in engravings really existing monuments and his imaginary reconstructions (frontispiece from the series Vedute di Roma- Fantasy ruins with a statue of Minerva in the center; title of the series Carceri; Pantheon of Agrippa, Interior of the Maecenas Villa, Ruins of the Sculpture Gallery at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli- series Vedute di Roma).

In 1743 Piranesi published in Rome his first series of engravings. A collection of large engravings enjoyed great success Piranesi « Grotesque"(1745) and a series of sixteen sheets" Prison fantasies"(1745; 1761). The word "fantasy" is not accidental here: in these works Piranesi paid tribute to the so-called paper, or imaginary, architecture. In his engravings, he imagined and showed fantastic architectural structures that were impossible for real implementation.

In 1744, due to a difficult financial situation, he was forced to return to Venice. Improved in the technique of engraving, studying the work G. B. Tiepolo, Canaletto, M. Ricci, whose manner influenced his later editions in Rome - Vedute di Roma (1746-1748), Grotteschi (1747-1749), Carceri(1749-1750). Famous engraver J. Wagner offered Piranesi to be his agent in Rome, and he again went to the Eternal City.

In 1756, after a long study of the monuments ancient rome, participating in excavations published a fundamental work Le Antichita romane(in 4 volumes) with financial support Lord Carlemont. It emphasized the greatness and significance of the role of Roman architecture for ancient and subsequent European culture. The same theme - the pathos of Roman architecture - was devoted to a series of engravings Della magnificenza ed architettura dei romani(1761) with a dedication to the pope Clement XIII Rezzonico. Piranesi he emphasized in it the contribution of the Etruscans to the creation of ancient Roman architecture, their engineering talent, a sense of the structure of monuments, and functionality. Similar position Piranesi caused irritation among supporters of the greatest contribution of the Greeks to ancient culture based on the works of French authors Le Roy, Cordemois, Abbot Laugier, Comte de Queylus. The main exponent of the pan-Greek theory was the famous French collector P. J. Mariette, speaking in Gazette Litterere del'Europe with objections to the views Piranesi. IN literary work Parere su l'architettura (1765) Piranesi answered him, explaining his position. Heroes of the artist's work Protopiro and Didascallo argue like Marietta and Piranesi. in the mouth Didascallo Piranesi invested important thought that in architecture one should not reduce everything to dry functionality. "Everything should be according to reason and truth, but this threatens to reduce everything to huts" , - wrote Piranesi. The hut was an example of functionality in the works Carlo Lodoli, an enlightened Venetian abbot, whose work he studied Piranesi. Hero Dialogue Piranesi reflected the state of architectural theory in the 2nd floor. 18th century Preference should be given to diversity and fantasy, believed Piranesi. These are the most important principles of architecture, which is based on the proportionality of the whole and its parts, and its task is to meet the modern needs of people.

In 1757 the architect became a member Royal Society of Antiquaries of London. In 1761 for labor magnificenza ed architettura dei romani Piranesi was accepted as a member Academy of St. Luke; in 1767 received from the pope Clement XIII Rezzonico title" cavagliere".

The idea that without variety, architecture would be reduced to a craft, Piranesi expressed in his subsequent works - decor English cafe(1760s) in the Plaza of Spain in Rome, where he introduced elements of Egyptian art, and in a series of engravings Diverse maniere d'adornare I cammini(1768, also known as Vasi, candelabri, cippi…). The latter was carried out with the financial support of the senator A. Rezzonico. In the preface to this series Piranesi wrote that the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans - all made a significant contribution to world culture enriched architecture with their discoveries. Projects for the decoration of fireplaces, lamps, furniture, clocks became the arsenal from which the Empire architects borrowed decor elements in interior decoration.

In 1763 the Pope Clement III instructed Piranesi building a choir in a church San Giovanni in Laterano. Main job Piranesi in the field of real, "stone" architecture was the restructuring of the church Santa Maria Aventina (1764-1765).

In the 1770s Piranesi also made measurements of temples Paestum and made corresponding sketches and engravings, which, after the death of the artist, were published by his son Francesco.

At J. B. Piranesi had his own vision of the role of an architectural monument. Like a master of the century Enlightenment he thought of it in historical context, dynamic, in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio liked to combine various temporary layers of the life of architecture the eternal city . The thought that a new style born from architectural styles past, about the importance of diversity and fantasy in architecture, about the fact that the architectural heritage gets a new appreciation over time, Piranesi expressed by building a church Santa Maria del Priorato(1764-1766) in Rome on aventine hill. It was erected by order of the Prior of the Maltese Order of the Senator A. Rezzonico and became one of the major monuments of Rome during neoclassicism. Picturesque architecture Palladio, baroque scenography Borromini, the lessons of the Venetian perspectivists - everything came together in this talented creation Piranesi, which has become a kind of "encyclopedia" of antique decor elements. The façade overlooking the square, consisting of an arsenal of antique details, reproduced, as in engravings, in a strict frame; the decoration of the altar, also oversaturated with them, looks like collages made up of "quotes" taken from antique decor (bucrania, torches, trophies, mascarons, etc.). The artistic heritage of the past for the first time so clearly appeared in the historical assessment of the architect of the century Enlightenment, freely and clearly and with a touch of didactics teaching his contemporaries.

Drawings J. B. Piranesi not as numerous as his engravings. The museum has the largest collection of them. J. Soana in London. Piranesi worked in various techniques - sanguine, Italian pencil, combined drawings with Italian pencil and pen, ink, adding another wash with a bistre brush. He sketched ancient monuments, the details of their decor, combined them in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio, depicted scenes from modern life. In his drawings, the influence of the Venetian perspective masters was manifested, the manner G. B. Tiepolo. Paintings of the Venetian period are dominated by pictorial effects; in Rome, it becomes more important for him to convey the clear structure of the monument, the harmony of its forms. Drawings of the villa are executed with great inspiration Adriana V Tivoli which he called place for the soul", sketches Pompeii made in later years creativity. Modern reality and the life of ancient monuments are combined in sheets into a single poetic story about the eternal movement of history, about the connection between the past and the present.

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Italian Giambattista Piranesi; October 4, 1720, Mogliano Veneto (near the city of Treviso) - November 9, 1778, Rome) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, master of architectural landscapes. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of romantic style artists and - later - on the surrealists. He made a large number of drawings and drawings, but erected few buildings, so the concept of "paper architecture" is associated with his name.

We can say that the man was a genius, one should not be skeptical about his works, since they contain more questions than answers. The first known works - a series of engravings "Prima Parte di architettura e Prospettive" (1743) and "Varie Vedute di Roma" (1741) - bore the imprint of the manner of engravings by J. Vasi with strong effects of light and shadow, highlighting the dominant architectural monument and at the same time techniques of Veneto stage designers who used "angular perspective".

He improved in the technique of engraving, studying the works of G. B. Tiepolo, Canaletto, M. Ricci, the manner of which influenced his subsequent publications in Rome - "Vedute di Roma" (1746-1748), "Grotteschi" (1747-1749), " Carceri" (1749-1750). Famous engraver J. Wagner offered Piranesi to be his agent in Rome, and he again went to the Eternal City.

In the 1770s, Piranesi also made measurements of the temples of Paestum and made corresponding sketches and engravings, which, after the death of the artist, were published by his son Francesco.

Piranesi engravings for a long time concealed, only in 2010 it passed censorship after which it was “issued” to the public, the impetus for this was a lot of facts and references by others to this “genius” more than 500 engravings are currently banned. All engravings on architecture were numbered, notes were made, calculations, which makes it clear that the work of this person is not a figment of the imagination, it was a job that he did well, which will give us and subsequent more answers about us and our past

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Giambattista Piranesi; 1720-1778) - Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, engraver, draftsman, master of architectural landscapes. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of artists of the romantic style and - later - on surrealists.

Gianbattista Piranesi was born on October 4, 1720 in Mogliano Veneto (near the city of Treviso), in the family of a stonemason. .

His father was a stone carver, and in his youth Piranesi worked in his father's workshop "L'Orbo Celega" on the Grand Canal, which carried out the orders of architect D. Rossi. He studied architecture with his uncle, architect and engineer Matteo Lucchesi, and also with architect J. A. Scalfarotto. Studied the techniques of perspective painters, took lessons in engraving and perspective painting from Carlo Zucchi, a famous engraver, author of a treatise on optics and perspective (brother of the painter Antonio Zucchi); independently studied treatises on architecture, read the works of ancient authors (his mother's brother, the abbot, addicted to reading). The young Piranesi's interests also included history and archeology.
As an artist, he was significantly influenced by the art of vedutists, which was very popular in the middle of the 18th century in Venice.

In 1740 he left Veneto forever and from that time he lived and worked in Rome. Piranesi came to the Eternal City as an engraver and graphic artist as part of the embassy delegation of Venice. He was supported by Ambassador Marco Foscarini himself, Senator Abbondio Rezzonico, nephew of the "Venetian Pope" Clement XIII Rezzonico - Prior of the Order of Malta, as well as the "Venetian Pope" himself ; Lord Carlemont became the most ardent admirer of Piranesi's talent, a collector of his works. Piranesi improved himself in drawing and engraving, worked in the Palazzo di Venezia, the residence of the Venetian ambassador in Rome; studied engravings by J. Vazi. In the workshop of Giuseppe Vasi, the young Piranesi studied the art of engraving on metal. From 1743 to 1747 he lived mostly in Venice, where, among other things, he worked with Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Piranesi was a highly educated person, but, unlike Palladio, he did not write treatises on architecture. Jean Laurent Le Gey (1710-1786), a famous French draftsman and architect who worked in Rome from 1742 and was close to the students of the French Academy, played a certain role in shaping Piranesi's style. in Rome, with whom Piranesi himself was friendly.

In Rome, Piranesi became a passionate collector: his workshop in Palazzo Tomati on Strada Felice, full of antique marbles, was described by many travelers. like the famous Warwick Crater he compiled (now in the collection of the Burrell Museum, ca. Glasgow), which he acquired in the form of separate fragments from the Scottish painter G. Hamilton, who was also fond of excavations.

The first known works - a series of engravings "Prima Parte di architettura e Prospettive" (1743) and "Varie Vedute di Roma" (1741) - bore the imprint of the manner of engravings by G. Vasi with strong effects of light and shadow, highlighting the dominant architectural monument and at the same time techniques of Veneto stage designers who used "angular perspective". In the spirit of the Venetian capricci, Piranesi combined real-life monuments and his imaginary reconstructions in engravings (frontispiece from the Vedute di Roma series - Fantasy ruins with a statue of Minerva in the center; title of the publication of the Carceri series; View of the Pantheon Agrippa, Interior of the Maecenas' Villa, Ruins of the Sculpture Gallery at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli - series "Vedute di Roma").

In 1743 Piranesi published his first series of engravings in Rome. The collection of large engravings by Piranesi "Grotesques" (1745) and a series of sixteen sheets "Fantasy on the Themes of Prisons" (1745; 1761) were very successful. The word "fantasy" is not accidental here: in these works Piranesi paid tribute to the so-called paper, or , architecture. In his engravings, he imagined and showed fantastic architectural structures that were impossible for real implementation.

In 1744 he was forced to return to Venice due to a difficult financial situation. -1748), "Grotteschi" (1747-1749), "Carceri" (1749-1750). The famous engraver J. Wagner offered Piranesi to be his agent in Rome, and he again went to the Eternal City.

In 1756, after a long study of the monuments of Ancient Rome, participation in excavations, he published the fundamental work "Le Antichita romane" (in 4 volumes) with the financial support of Lord Carlemont. It emphasized the greatness and significance of the role of Roman architecture for ancient and subsequent European culture. This the same theme - the pathos of Roman architecture - was devoted to a series of engravings "Della magnificenza ed architettura dei romani" (1761) with a dedication to Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico. Piranesi emphasized in it the contribution of the Etruscans to the creation of ancient Roman architecture, their engineering talent, sense of the structure of monuments, functionality This position of Piranesi irritated the supporters of the greatest contribution of the Greeks to ancient culture, who relied on the works of the French authors Le Roy, Cordemois, Abbé Laugier, Comte de Caylus. The main exponent of the pan-Greek theory was the famous French collector P.J. Mariette, who spoke in the "Gazette Litterere del'Europe" with objections to the views of Piranesi. In the literary work "Parere su l'architettura" (1765), Piranesi answered him, explaining his position. The heroes of the artist’s work, Protopiro and Didascallo, are arguing like Marietta and Piranesi. In the mouth of Didascallo, Piranesi put an important idea that architecture should not be reduced to dry functionality. “Everything should be according to reason and truth, but this threatens to reduce everything to huts ", Piranesi wrote. The hut was an example of functionality in the writings of Carlo Lodoli, an enlightened Venetian abbot, whose work Piranesi studied. The dialogue of Piranesi's heroes reflected the state of architectural theory in the 2nd floor. 18th century Preference should be given to diversity and fantasy, Piranesi believed. These are the most important principles of architecture, which is based on the proportionality of the whole and its parts, and its task is to meet the modern needs of people.

In 1757 the architect became a member of the London Royal Society of Antiquaries. In 1761, for the work "Magnificenza ed architettura dei romani" Piranesi was admitted to the Academy of St. Luke; in 1767 he received the title "cavagliere" from Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico.

The idea that without diversity architecture would be reduced to a craft, Piranesi expressed in his subsequent works - the decor of the English Cafe (1760s) on the Plaza de España in Rome, where he introduced elements of Egyptian art, and in a series of engravings "Diverse maniere d'adornare I cammini" (1768, also known as Vasi, candelabri, cippi...). The latter was carried out with the financial support of Senator A. Rezzonico. In the preface to this series, Piranesi wrote that the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, Romans - all made a significant contribution to world culture, enriched architecture with their discoveries. Projects for decorating fireplaces, lamps, furniture , clocks became the arsenal from which the Empire architects borrowed decor elements in interior decoration.

In 1763, Pope Clement III commissioned Piranesi to build a choir in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano. Piranesi's main work in the field of real, "stone" architecture was the restructuring of the church of Santa Maria Aventina (1764-1765).

In the 1770s, Piranesi also made measurements of the temples of Paestum and made corresponding sketches and engravings, which, after the death of the artist, were published by his son Francesco.

G. B. Piranesi had his own vision of the role of an architectural monument. As a master of the Age of Enlightenment, he thought of it in a historical context, dynamically, in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio, he liked to combine various temporary layers of the life of the architecture of the Eternal City. The idea that a new style is born from architectural styles of the past, about the importance of diversity and fantasy in architecture, about the fact that the architectural heritage gets a new appreciation over time, Piranesi expressed by building the church of Santa Maria del Priorato (1764-1766) in Rome on the Aventine Hill. It was commissioned by the Prior of Malta of the order of Senator A. Rezzonico and became one of the major monuments of Rome during neoclassicism. The pictorial architecture of Palladio, the baroque scenography of Borromini, the lessons of Venetian perspectivists - everything was combined in this talented creation of Piranesi, which became a kind of "encyclopedia" of elements of ancient decor. The facade overlooking the square, consisting from the arsenal of antique details, reproduced, as in engravings, in a strict frame leniya; the decoration of the altar, also oversaturated with them, looks like collages made up of "quotes" taken from antique decor (bucranias, torches, trophies, mascarons, etc.). and with a touch of didactics teaching his contemporaries.

Drawings by G. B. Piranesi are not as numerous as his engravings. The largest collection of them is in the J. Soana Museum in London. Piranesi worked in various techniques - sanguine, Italian pencil, combined drawings with Italian pencil and pen, ink, adding another wash with a bistre brush. He sketched ancient monuments, details of their decor, combined them in the spirit of the Venetian capriccio, depicted scenes from modern life. In his drawings, the influence of the Venetian perspective masters, the manner of G.B. Tiepolo, was manifested. Picturesque effects dominate in the drawings of the Venetian period, in Rome it becomes more important for him to convey the clear structure of the monument, the harmony of its forms. The drawings of Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, which he called "a place for the soul", sketches of Pompeii, made in the later years of creativity. Modern reality and the life of ancient monuments are combined in sheets into a single poetic story about perpetual motion. history, communication past and present.

The words of G. B. Piranesi: "the Parere su l' Architettura" ("They despise my novelty, I - their timidity") - could become the motto of the work of this outstanding master of the Age of Enlightenment in Italy. His art had a significant influence on many architects (F. Gilly, R. and J. Adam, J. A. Selva, C. Percier and P. Fontaine, C. Clerisso and others). Decor elements from his work "Diverse maniere "... reproduced in their publications T. Hope (1807), Percier and Fontaine (1812) and many others. In the engraving he had no students, except for his son Francesco (1758-1810), who published the series "Raccolta de Tempi antichi" (1786 or 1788 ) and the last work of his father "Differentes vues de la quelques restes" ... with views of the temples of Paestum, which Francesco visited with him in 1777 and 1778. His daughter Laura, who performed drawings, also helped her father in his work.

The artist died on November 9, 1778 in Rome after a long illness. He was buried in the church of Santa Maria del Priorato.

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 - 1778), an outstanding Italian graphic artist, architect and archaeologist. His monumental studies of the Eternal City were expressed in about two thousand fine works. So the artist created a series of etchings "Antiquities of Rome" for a quarter of a century. "Views of Rome" Piranesi devoted his whole life.

Piranesi's drawings preserved the original Rome of the 18th century. From childhood, struck by the beauty of architecture (Piranesi's father is a stonemason, his uncle is an artist), Giovanni Batista dreamed of realizing himself as an architect. Almost every work he signed "Venetian architect". All the more striking is the paradox of his life - he designed only one building. According to his drawings, the church of Santa Maria Aventina was rebuilt. Therefore, his name is associated with the concept of "paper architecture". Later, the church was renamed Santa Maria del Priorato, in which the artist was buried.

However, the cycle “Fantastic Images of Prisons” stands apart in his work. Colossal and majestic, these phantasmagoric buildings should keep the prisoner in the labyrinth of their passages more securely than any castles. Anyone who decides to describe the mysterious dungeon, plunging the prisoner into awe, should turn to artistic heritage Piranesi. As did, for example, Umberto Eco, describing the labyrinth library in the novel The Name of the Rose. And recently, Piranesi was recalled on the pages of DARKER in a review of .

And here is what Thomas de Quincey writes in "":

« Many years ago, when I was looking at Piranesi's Antiquities of Rome, Mr. Coleridge, who was standing by, described to me engravings by the same artist […] They contain pictures of those visions that appeared to the artist in delirium. Some of these engravings […] depicted spacious Gothic halls, in which various types of machines and mechanisms, wheels and chains, gears and levers, catapults, etc., were piled up - an expression of overturned resistance and force set in motion. Feeling your way along the walls, you begin to distinguish the stairs and on it - Piranesi himself, making his way up; following it, you suddenly find that the staircase suddenly breaks off and its end, devoid of a balustrade, does not allow one who has reached the edge to step anywhere, except for the abyss that opens below. I do not know what will become of poor Piranesi, but at least it is clear that his labors are to some extent ended here. However, raise your eyes and look at that flight that hangs even higher - and again you will find Piranesi, now already standing on the very edge of the abyss. But you see a new weightless platform, and again the unfortunate Piranesi is busy with high work - and so on, until the endless stairs, together with their creator, sink under gloomy vaults. The same irresistible self-expansion continued in my dreams».

In total, Giovanni Battista Piranesi created 16 boards with images of incredible prisons. The first publication of this series took place in 1749. 10 years later, the artist completed almost new series on the same boards.

VIII - Porch decorated with trophies ()

X - Prisoners on the platform ()

Alexandra Lorenz

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian Giovanni Battista Piranesi, or Giambattista Piranesi; 1720–1778) was an Italian archaeologist, architect and graphic artist, engraver, draftsman, master of architectural landscapes. Born October 4, 1720 in Mogliano near Mestre. He studied in Venice with his father, who was a bricklayer, with his uncle, an engineer and architect, and with some other masters. From 1740 to 1744 he studied engraving technique with Giuseppe Vasi and Felice Polanzani in Rome; there in 1743 he published his first series of engravings, the First Part of Architectural and Perspective Constructions (La parte prima di Architetture e Prospettive). Then he briefly returned to Venice, and from 1745 settled permanently in Rome. By the end of his life (he died November 9, 1778) Piranesi became one of the most famous citizens of Rome. He had a strong influence on subsequent generations of Romantic artists and, later, on the Surrealists.

Here is the Teatro di Marcello:

This is the modern look:

Immediately striking is the big difference in the safety of the building. Has it really worn out so much in less than 3 centuries? While it previously stood in excellent condition for more than a thousand years?
We note right away that what was obvious in the 1750s - we are rediscovering. The first floor of the building covered with sand. Giovanni writes: “The 1st floor of the theater is half visible, but earlier it and the one above it were the same in height”
It also hurts something else. The graph confidently depicts the underground part of the theater, a powerful foundation. Here is the second picture:

Here Piranesi draws in sufficient detail the structure of the foundation of the Theater. Was he excavating? It can be judged from the image that for such a drawing it is required not only to excavate, but also to disassemble part of the building.
So Giovaniya used more ancient sources, building his images. The ones we don't have.
I draw your attention to the details of the design:
The famous "nipples" on the blocks. Just like in South America!

Accuracy in the manufacture of cycloscopic blocks.

Unprecedented power of the building. By our standards - unjustified. Studying the architecture of Rome, I cannot get rid of this thought - everything is done very firmly, reliably, precisely. Construction costs are incredible!

The builders of Rome had a deep knowledge of sopromat. Here and in other drawings that I will post later, you can see how the masonry in huge blocks repeats the load diagrams. Modern construction such "freaks" are not available.

A pile base is used. I do not presume to give an assessment of such a solution under stone buildings, but perhaps it was the piles, being a “cushion”, that protected the building from strong earthquakes. And they didn't rot?

Complex curly grooves, channels, protrusions, dovetails - all this indicates that the blocks were made by casting or by another plasticization method.

As elsewhere in Rome, backfilling with rubble and rubble of the internal cavities of the walls is used.

First of all, the super-powerful foundations of buildings and structures are striking. For example, this bridge:

Any architect, builder will tell you: “Now they don’t build like that. It's expensive, it's not rational, it's not necessary"
This is not a bridge, but some kind of pyramid! How many stone blocks. How difficult is it to make them. How strong they are. How exactly. How much labor, transport work, calculations are needed. Eighteen exclamation marks. And more questions.
Here are the ancient walls and foundations:

Impressive? Why such power? Defend yourself against a cannonball or a bronze-tipped log?

Here is beauty, a diagram of stresses in stone. Famous "nipples", incredible fit. The high culture of construction and knowledge in the field of strength of materials is striking.
And here is our favorite bridge:

It still stands - a bridge built by Emperor Elius Adriano:

It looks like a normal bridge. And what is his basis?
When compared, the changed water level immediately catches the eye. All grandiose structures remained hidden from view.
I will also draw your attention to the mountains of sand in the drawing by Giovanni. "D is the sand deposited in time..." I could never find a translation of this mysterious word. And the Italian friends could not help. What are the times? I think the word was changed on purpose. To be unable to translate. Either all references to these times have been wiped clean from history.
Again a mystery.

Here is a drawing of the bridge support. Why such power? And pay attention to the fact that the blocks are fastened together. And again a pillow of piles.

Here is another bridge. The same powerful single structure of the bridge supports with its body and a common foundation below.
One gets the impression that the builders were faced with the task of resisting powerful earthquakes. Obviously, our planet during these times, when it was expanding rapidly, was subject to very strong seismic activity. Perhaps, the streams of water and mudflow as a result of titanic showers or the melting of huge amounts of snow and ice in the mountains had crushing power.
Of course, the power of the construction industry, which was at their disposal, is also striking. Against the background of these drawings, the construction of both the Trojan ramparts, and the Serpents and the pyramids becomes more understandable. I do not believe that only using the draft power of cattle and slaves, it was possible to build such a thing.
I want to draw your attention to the configuration of the blocks that make up the steps of the amphitheaters:

Well, I would like to note once again: Giovanni Piranesi had access to certain archives where the construction drawings of these ancient structures were stored. I believe that the drawings of the Cologne Cathedral, the Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris and other temples, the builders of which "in one night the devil whispered how to build a temple")))))
And most likely, you need to look for these documents in the Vatican. Because the church wished in its time to appropriate the fruits of the labor of a "different" civilization. She later told me that it was Pope So-and-so who laid the first stone in the foundation of the temple. Weighing 600 tons!
It is in the vaults of the Vatican that answers to many secrets await us! Surely, books from the "burned" libraries of the world got there.

"Piranesi. Before and after. Italy - Russia. XVIII-XXI centuries. Part I

From September 20 to November 13, the Pushkin Museum hosted the exhibition “Piranesi. Before and after. Italy - Russia. XVIII-XXI centuries.
The exposition includes more than 100 etchings by the master, engravings and drawings of his predecessors and followers, casts, coins and medals, books, as well as cork models from the collection of the Research Museum at Russian Academy art, graphic sheets from the Cini Foundation (Venice), the Research Museum of Architecture named after A.V. Shchusev, Museum of the History of the Moscow School of Architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute, Russian state archive literature and art, Yakov Chernikhov International Architectural Charitable Foundation. For the first time, the attention of the Russian audience will be offered Piranesi engraving boards, provided by the Central Institute of Graphics (Roman Calcography). In total, about 400 works were exhibited at the exhibition. The exhibition covers much more wide circle problems and goes far beyond the boundaries of the artist's own creativity. "Do" are Piranesi's predecessors, as well as his direct teachers; "After" - artists and architects of the late XVIII-XIX centuries, up to the XXI century.
white hall

The White Hall is dedicated to Antiquity. Piranesi spent his entire life researching ancient rome, giving the world a number of major archaeological discoveries. For the first time, Russian visitors will be able to see sheets from the master's most important theoretical works, primarily the four-volume work "Roman Antiquities" (1756) and others. Piranesi described the surviving monuments of ancient Rome, reconstructed the topography of the ancient city, captured the disappearing remains of ancient monuments.

Piranesi was not only a tireless research engraver, but also an enterprising person who successfully used his talent and knowledge for commercial purposes. From the second half of the 1760s, he took part in excavations and began to recreate the monuments ancient art by selling them along with engravings.

Pope Clement XIII and other members of the Rezzonico family patronized Piranesi, encouraging his creative ideas. In addition to the grandiose, never realized project of 1760 to rebuild the altar and the western part of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, in 1764-1766 Piranesi reconstructed the church of the Order of Malta Santa Maria del Piorato on the Avetine Hill in Rome, and also designed a number of interiors in the residence of the pope in Castel Gandolfo and his successors - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Rezzonico and Senator of Rome Abbondio Rezzonico.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Portrait of Pope Clement XIII. Frontispiece to the series "On the grandeur and architecture of the Romans ..." 1761 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Urns, tombstones and vases at Villa Corsini. . Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The engraving shows funerary urns, stelae, tombstones found in the gardens of the Villa Corsini behind Porta San Pancrazio in Rome (Trastevere district). It is believed that Piranesi used the alternation of funerary urns and stelae when designing the fence of the church of the Order of Malta, Santa Maria del Piorato. This church is the only building built by Piranesi.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Interior view of the tomb of Lucius Arruntius. Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Tomb of Lucius Arrucius - a complex of three columbariums, rooms with semicircular niches for storing urns with the ashes of slaves and descendants of the statesman, consul of the 6th year, historian Lucius Arruncius. The burial was discovered in 1736, and in the 19th century the tomb was completely destroyed.

Gravestone of Lucius Volumnius Heracles Plaster tinted, cast in the form Original: marble, 1 c, kept in the Lateran Museum, Rome Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Tombstones in the form of altars were very popular in funeral rites Italy in the early imperial period. The original is made from a single block of marble with relief decorations on the pediment and sides. The upper part of the gravestone is designed in the form of a pillow with two bolsters, the curls of which are decorated with rosettes. A wreath with garlands is depicted in the central part of the semicircular pediment.

On the front side of the tombstone, in a frame, there is an inscription with a dedication to the gods of the underworld - manns - and a mention of the name of the deceased and his age; under it is the mask of the Gorgon Medusa, framed by the figures of swans. At the corners of the monument there are masks of rams, under which images of eagles are placed. The side parts of the gravestone are decorated with garlands of leaves and fruits hanging from ram's horns.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "View of the ancient Appeva Way". Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

One of the main themes in the art of Piranesi is the theme of the grandeur of ancient Roman architecture. In many ways, this greatness was achieved thanks to engineering and technical skills. The engraving depicts a preserved paved section of the ancient Apian Way, the Queen of the Roads, as the Romans called it.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Title page for Volume II "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, cutter, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

In the essay "Roman Antiquities" Piranesi showed an increased interest in funerary structures. In the study of the tombs containing numerous works of art, the artist saw the way to the revival of the greatness of Rome and its culture. Before Piranesi, Pietro Santi Bartoli, Pier Leon Ghezzi and others turned to the study and documentation of ancient Roman tombs. Their writings had a significant impact on the artist, but Piranesi goes beyond simply fixing the external and internal appearance of the tombs. His compositions are full of dynamics and drama.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Tomb located in a vineyard on the road to Tivoli". Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The engraving shows a tomb located in a vineyard on the road to Tivoli. The artist demonstrates appearance tomb, depicting it in the foreground from a low point of view. Thanks to this, the structure stands out against the background of the landscape and rises above the viewer.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Large sarcophagus and candelabra from the mausoleum of St. Constance in Rome". Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The engraving shows a sarcophagus and a candelabra found in the mausoleum of Constance (c. 318-354), daughter of Emperor Constantine the Great. Piranesi reproduced one of the sides of the porphyrated sarcophagus depicting vines and Cupids crushing grapes. The side of the lid is decorated with a Silenus mask and a garland. As Piranesi noted, the marble chandelier serves as a model for artists in the 15th century, and remains a model for lovers of beauty. Currently, the sarcophagus and chandelier are kept in the Pio Clementine Museum in Rome.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Fragment of the facade of the tomb of Caecilia Metella". Sheet from the suite "Views of Rome" 1762 Etching, cutter, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Piranesi quite accurately reproduced the upper part of the tomb of Caecilia Metella with a dilapidated cornice and a frieze decorated with bull skulls and garlands. The name of the buried woman is inscribed on the marble slab: Caecilia Metella, daughter of Quintus of Crete, wife of Crassus.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Tomb of Caecilia Metella". Sheet from the suite "Views of Rome" 1762 Etching, cutter, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Plan, facade, vertical section and masonry details of the tomb of Caecilia Metella". Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Several engravings of the series are dedicated to the tomb of Caecilia Metella. The massive cylindrical structure was erected around 50 BC. on the Appian Way near Rome. In the Middle Ages, it was turned into a castle with a battlement built on top in the form of "swallowtails". For detailed picture monument Piranesi used a two-tier compositional scheme borrowed from Pietro Santi Bartolli from the book Ancient Tombs ”(1697)

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Lifting Devices big stones traventine used in the construction of the tomb of Caecilia Metella. Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin.

Piranesi's engraving depicts metal devices for lifting massive stone slabs, one of which was familiar to Piranesi's contemporaries under the name "ulivella". It was believed that Vitruvius wrote about it in the 1st century BC under the name "tanaglia", and in the 15th century it was rediscovered by another architect, Filippo Bruneleschi. According to Piranesi, the instruments of Vitruvius and Bruneleschi are different from each other and the advantage was behind the ancient, easier to use

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "The Underground Part of the Foundation of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian". Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The engraving shows the underground part of the foundation of the Mausoleum of Hadrian (Castle of the Holy Angel). The artist greatly exaggerated the size of the structure, depicting only part of a giant vertical ledge (buttress). The artist admires the regularity and beauty of ancient masonry, revealing the plasticity of stones with the help of sharp light and shade contrasts.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi View of the bridge and mausoleum. erected by Emperor Hadrian. Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian (Castle of the Holy Angel) has repeatedly become the object of close attention Piranesi. The tomb was built under Emperor Hadrian around 134-138. The ashes of many representatives of the imperial house rested here. In X, the building was taken over by a patrician of the Creshenci family, who turned the tomb into a fortress. In the 13th century, under Pope Nicholas III, the castle was connected to the Vatican Palace and became the papal citadel. A prison was set up in the lower rooms.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Mausoleum and Bridge of Emperor Hadrian. Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

This large sheet consists of 2 prints, conceived as a single unit and printed from 2 boards.

Left side. The artist showed a section of the bridge with an underground part and carefully reproduced the underground masonry. He gives curious details of the construction of the bridge piers: it was believed that Hadrian either directed the Tiber in another direction, or blocked its channel with a palisade, allowing it to flow on one side. Piranesi admired the strength of the structure, which can withstand frequent floods. In 3 center arched openings, the water level in the Tiber is shown depending on the season (from left to right V) December, June and August. Interestingly, the artist supplemented the technical drawing with landscape elements with views of the banks of the Tiber.

The wall of the mausoleum and its underground part are depicted on the right side. As Piranesi writes, the mausoleum “was covered with rich marbles, decorated with numerous statues depicting people, horses, chariots and other most valuable sculptures that Hadrian collected on a journey through the Roman Empire; now, devoid of ˂…˃ all its ornaments ˂…˃, it looks like a large, shapeless mass of masonry.” At a later time, the upper part of the mausoleum (A-B) was faced with brick. The artist also suggested that the height of the tower of the mausoleum is 3 times the height of the foundation (F-G). Piranesi paid great attention to the underground part of the structure, built from rows of tuff, traventine and stone fragments, reinforced with buttresses and special arches (M).

Giovanni Battista Piranesi - Entrance to the Upper Room of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian. Sheet from the series "Roman Antiquities" 1756 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin.

The entrance leading to the upper room of the mausoleum of Emperor Andrian is depicted. XVI-XVII centuries it was used for court sessions and was called the Hall of Justice. The entrance is made of huge blocks of travesty stone, so powerful and durable that Piranesi compared them to the famous Egyptian pyramids. As the artist noted, the arch is excellently reinforced on the sides, as it is forced to withstand the enormous weight of the masonry above it. The protrusions that were used to lift the blocks during construction are clearly visible on the stone.

In 1762, a new work by Pironesi was published, dedicated to the topography of the Field of Mars - the middle of ancient Rome - a vast territory on the left bank of the Tiber, bordering the Capitol, the Quirinal and the Pincio hill. This theoretical work consisted of a text based on classical sources; and 50 engravings, including a huge topographic map of the Field of Mars, "Iconography" with which Piranesi began work on the collection.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "The 'Iconography' or Plan of the Campus Martius of Ancient Rome". 1757 Sheet from the series “The Field of Mars of Ancient Rome”, a work by G. B. Piranesi, a member of the Royal Society of Antiquarians of London. 1762" Etching, cutter, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

In 1757 Piranesi engraved a huge map-reconstruction of the Campus Martius of the late empire. This idea was prompted to the artist by an ancient monumental plan of ancient Rome, carved on marble slabs under Emperor Septimius Severus in 201-0211. A fragment of this plan was discovered in 1562 and was kept at the time of Piranesi in the Capitoline Museum. Piranesi dedicated the plan to the Scottish architect Robert Adam, a friend of the artist. It is believed that it was Adam who persuaded him to start working on the composition of the Field of Mars from this map, the most important work of the master, which became the Anthology of Architectural Ideas!, which excited the imagination of architects until the 21st century.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi Capitoline Stones…1762” Etching, cutter, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The title page is made in the form of a stone slab with a Latin name carved on it. The slab is decorated with reliefs pointing to the glorious past of Rome and its rulers. Above, among the mythological characters, the founders of the city, Romulus and Remus, are represented, and on ancient coins, major statesmen are depicted - Julius Caesar, Lucius Brutus, Emperor Octavian Augustus. Piranesi uses decorative motifs traditional for ancient Roman art: garlands of laurel branches, cornucopia, ram's heads. The same motifs appear in Piranesi's projects of applied things.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Theatres of Balba, Marcellus, Statius Taurus Amphitheater, Pantheon" from the series "Field of Mars" ... 1762 "Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

Piranesi reconstructs the densely built-up quarters of the ancient Campus Martius from a bird's eye view.

The upper engraving on the left shows a stone theater built by Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger, a Roman general and playwright in 13 BC. On the right is another theatrical building - the theater of Marcellus, the second stone theater in Rome (after the theater of Pompey)

The middle engraving shows the famous Pantheon and the gardens behind it, the artificial lake and the Baths of Agrippa.

Below is the first stone amphitheater in Rome, built in 29 BC, on the square in front of it - a sundial, installed by order of Emperor Augustus. These reconstructions had a powerful impact on the formation of architecture, in particular, they significantly influenced the minds of Soviet architects of the 20th century.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Marble tablets with lists of Roman consuls and victors" sheets for the series "Capitoline Stones" Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

The engraving shows preserved marble tablets with a list of Roman consuls and victors from the founding of Rome to the reign of Emperor Tiberius (14-37). From the inscription carved on the upper slab, it follows that in ancient times the tablets were installed in the Roman Forum.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi "Examples of Roman Ionic capitals in comparison with Greek, righteous at Le Roy" sheets for the series "On the grandeur and architecture of the Romans" 1761 Etching, chisel, Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin

This sheet is Piranesi's graphic response to J.D. Le Roy "The ruins of the most beautiful monuments of Greece" 1758. Piranesi