Italy - Rome // Colosseum; Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Mogliano Veneto, 1720 - Roma, 1778) - Veduta dell’Anfiteatro Flavio, detto il Colosseo - 1751-1760

In this splendid and celebrated view, Piranesi extols the grandeur of the Colosseum through a monumental and strongly foreshortened perspective. The insertion of small eighteenth-century figures and of spontaneous climbing vegetation along the arches gives the composition that romantic flavor and the sublime ruin that made his engravings extremely popular among Grand Tour travelers.

Transcription of the Texts and the Legend

Below is the faithful transcription of the title, the publication address, and the descriptive points of the lower legend (preserving the original eighteenth-century spelling and punctuation):

Title and Editorial Info (center):

View of the Flavian Amphitheatre, called the Colosseum
At the Author’s, Strada Felice near the Trinità dei Monti.

Legend - Left Column:A. Arches of the first order of the Amphitheatre, by which the people ascended to the seats of the Shows.B. Modern enclosures.C. Numbers inscribed in the dark arches, perhaps as a sign of those who wished to be counted among the multitude of Shows.D. Arch without a number, above which was immarated (note: in some matrices read as "immured") the bridge that from the Cesarian works of the Esquiline gave entry to the Amphitheatre°.E. Part of the Amphitheatre defaced by fires.Legend -

Right Column:F. Arches of the second and third order once interspersed with parapets, of which some marks and remnants remain.G. Shelves on which the metal antennas rested, which crossing the frame upheld the great tent.H. Broken architrave by the antennas, in which was impressed the intersected part of the same.I. Buildings of the Esquiline hill.K. Arch of Constantine.L. Monte Celio.M. Beginning of the road of St. Giovanni Laterano.

Piranesi F. (Fecit)

Coloring: Partially and elegantly colored in antiquity (contemporary or period aquatint). Note: The absence of modern coloring or recent restorations is guaranteed.

State of Preservation

General Conditions:

Excellent, the work preserves an outstanding visual freshness and an excellent rendering of the chiaroscuro contrasts typical of Piranesi. Interventions: There are slight conservational restorations from the period, localized mainly at the margins or in correspondence with the central editorial fold, carried out with skill and in such a way as not to compromise the sheet’s integrity or aesthetics.

Paper:

Fine antique hand-made laid paper from the eighteenth century, produced by hand with rag pulp. When held to the light, the vertical fillets (filoni) and the dense horizontal lines (vergoni) are clearly visible, characteristic elements that attest to the sheet’s absolute period.

Notes on the reverse: Transmitted through back-lit inspection, there are slight natural irregularities in the pulp’s texture and small period-era consolidation/restoration interventions carried out with skill, fully compatible with the history and aging of a large eighteenth-century sheet.

Copy in the second state of four, after the price was erased and before numbering (Hind 57 II/IV)