An important part of the museum's collection of graphic art is formed by the almost twohundred etchings done by the Italian artist and architect, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. He transferred his dreams and fantasies into a major series of etchings. Even during his lifetime these earned him great fame. Initially, he limited his work to making romantic impressions of vast ruins from Roman antiquity. Later he made his own architectural creations on paper, works with a stunning and terrifying impact - especially the series 'Carceri' (dungeons). They conjure up immense buildings through which staircases wind endlessly and a human being is a miniscule detail becoming more and more insignificant. The hallucinatory nature of these works is strengthened by the fact that the perspective makes the scene increasingly complicated and impenetrable.

Specifications
Title | The Drawbridge |
---|---|
Material and technique | Etching |
Object type |
Print
> Two-dimensional object
> Art object
|
Location | This object is in storage |
Dimensions |
Height 547 mm Width 408 mm |
---|---|
Artists |
Uitgever:
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
|
Accession number | L 1952/34 (PK) |
Credits | Aankoop met steun van / Purchase with support of: Stichting Lucas van Leyden 1952 |
Department | Drawings & Prints |
Acquisition date | 1952 |
Age artist | About 41 years old |
Exhibitions | Rotterdam 1953; Amsterdam 1997; Maastricht 1998; Rotterdam 1998; Sint-Niklaas 1999; Rotterdam 2006; Haarlem 2008; Rotterdam 2009 (coll 2 kw 1-2); Rotterdam 2015; Rotterdam 2019 |
Research |
Piranesi |
Literature | Focillon 1918, no. 30; Hind 1922, no. 7; Rotterdam 1953, nos. 15-30, pl. 3; Robison 1986, no. 33; Wilton-Ely 1994, no. 32; Amsterdam 1997, no. VII, ill.; Maastricht 1998, pl. 9; Rotterdam 1998, ill.; Rotterdam 2006, ill.; Rotterdam 2015, no. 33 |
Material | |
Object | |
Technique |
Etching
> Manual
> Intaglio printing techniques
> Printing technique
> Technique
> Material and technique
|
Geographical origin | Italy > Southern Europe > Europe |