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Giovanni Battista Piranesi : the complete etchings /

By: Contributor(s): Language: English, German, French Publication details: Köln ; London : Taschen, 2000.Description: 799 pages : illustrations, maps, plans ; 26 cmISBN:
  • 3822866202
  • 9783822866207
Other title:
  • Complete etchings = Gesamtkatalog der Kupferstiche = Catalogue raisonnée des eaux-fortes [Parallel title]
  • Gesamtkatalog der Kupferstiche [Parallel title]
  • Catalogue raisonnée des eaux-fortes [Parallel title]
Subject(s): Summary: One the greatest architectural artists of all time, and certainly the most famous copper engraver of the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) is most known for his terrifyingly original series of etchings of labyrinthine and megalomaniac prisons, Carceri d'Invenzione. In his own day, he was most celebrated for his Vedute, 137 etchings of ancient and modern Rome; so renowned were these startling and dramatic chiaroscuro images, imbued with Piranesi's romantic feeling for archaeological ruins that they formed the mental picture of Rome for generations after. Indeed, Piranesi could be said to have shaped a whole strain of contemporary architecture, as well as the wider visualization of antiquity itself. In our time, he has had a direct influence on writers such as Borges and Kafka and on filmmakers such as Terry Gilliam and Peter Greenaway. Anyone who contemplates Piranesi's etchings will confront the existential nightmare of human existence and its infinite mysteries.
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Book Book Whitecliffe Library General Shelves General N 6923 PIR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 0003146

Includes bibliographical references (pages 778-782) and index.

One the greatest architectural artists of all time, and certainly the most famous copper engraver of the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) is most known for his terrifyingly original series of etchings of labyrinthine and megalomaniac prisons, Carceri d'Invenzione. In his own day, he was most celebrated for his Vedute, 137 etchings of ancient and modern Rome; so renowned were these startling and dramatic chiaroscuro images, imbued with Piranesi's romantic feeling for archaeological ruins that they formed the mental picture of Rome for generations after. Indeed, Piranesi could be said to have shaped a whole strain of contemporary architecture, as well as the wider visualization of antiquity itself. In our time, he has had a direct influence on writers such as Borges and Kafka and on filmmakers such as Terry Gilliam and Peter Greenaway. Anyone who contemplates Piranesi's etchings will confront the existential nightmare of human existence and its infinite mysteries.

Text in English, German and French.

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