Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Grand Piazza

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Date

18th century

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Traces of Piranesi’s abandoned first draft—faint, intermittent straight lines that crisscross the background— reveal his improvisational working method. Using printing plates as sketch pads, torturing them with corrosive acids, and radically reworking them, Piranesi fully exploited the liberties afforded by etching. He ranks among the select company of artists—Rembrandt is another—who have done the same. Italy, Europe

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