Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778) - View of the Tiber Island, 1762 Etching on laid paper

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720–1778)

View of the Tiber Island, 1762

Etching on laid paper

Plate 11 from the the series ‘Il Campo Marzio dell’Antica Roma’

Litterature

Sheet: 21 5/8 x 15 3/4 in. (56.5 x 30.5 cm)

Plate: 8 1/8 x 17 1/2 in. (20.7 x 44.5 cm), printed horizontally

Piranesi, a master etcher and engraver, but also an accomplished architect, was deeply fascinated by the grandeur of ancient Rome. Il Campo Marzio (1762)  is one of his most ambitious projects, blending real archaeological elements with imaginative reconstructions of Roman topography and architecture.

Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina), located in the Tiber River in Rome, held great religious and medicinal importance in antiquity—home to the Temple of Aesculapius, the god of healing. At the bottom left of the plate is a scroll with a list of numbered descriptions written in latin which correlate to numbers scattered throughout the etching, finding these creates a fun treasure hunt for your eyes, especially as some are hard to spot wit the heavy inking and detailed, complex lines of Piranesi’s etching technique.

 The list of locations is shown below with English translations

1.Scenographia insular Tiberinae – “Tiber island scenery”

2.Reliquiae veterum substructionum – “Remains of ancient structures”

3. Reliquiae veteris navis Lapideae – “Remains of an old ship Lapidae”

4. Templum Divi Bartholomaei – “Church of Saint Bartholomew”

5. Pons Fabricius - The Pons Fabricius "Fabrician Bridge"or Ponte dei Quattro Capi, is the oldest extant bridge in Rome, Italy, built in 62 BC

6. Pons Gratianus – “Bridge of Gracian” known as the Pons Cestius (Latin for the "Cestian Bridge"; Italian: Ponte Cestio) was an ancient Roman bridge connecting the right bank of the Tiber with the west bank of Tiber Island, entirely rebuilt in the 19^th century.

7. Roma citra Tiberim – “Rome on this side of the Tiber”

8. Roma trans Tiberim – “Rome beyond the Tiber”

9. Reliquiae Pontis Senatory – “Ruins of the Senatorial Bridge”