Piranesi’s Views of Rome Colouring Book

Eighteenth-century Venetian etcher Giovanni Battista Piranesi thought of himself as an architect. Piranesi—son of a stonemason, nephew of an engineer, and brother of a Carthusian monk—studied stage design and perspective. As a young man he moved to Rome, apprenticed to etcher Giuseppe Vasi, and began making a living through his etchings of the city’s ruins and other structures. These were, essentially, souvenirs for well-heeled tourists. Though he struggled to work as an architect, his knowledge of and facility with the subject lent authority to his art.

Piranesi’s works were dramatic, some more fantasy than reality (he famously produced a series of etchings imagining elaborate prison interiors). Those new to Rome in his time would have found a city different than the one represented in his Vedute de Roma, or Views of Rome, which made creative use of composition and lighting. He produced more than one thousand etchings in his lifetime, with Vedute his best-known artistic achievement. He spent more than thirty years producing its 135 original plates, working until his death in 1778. Ten years later, his son Francesco added two plates of his own (one is included here). Francesco continued to sell and publish his father’s works for decades, furthering their popularity throughout Europe.

Images

1. Title page


2. Frontispiece with statue of Minerva


3. St. Peter’s Square with St. Peter’s Basilica and colonnades


4. St. Peter’s Basilica: the interior with the nave


5. St. Peter’s Basilica, from the Piazza della Sagrestia


6. Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the Walls)


7. San Giovanni in Laterano, main facade with palace and Scala Santa on the right


8. Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore with the church of Santa Maria Maggiore and the column from the Basilica of Maxentius


9. Piazza dell’Esquilino with the rear of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore and obelisk


10. Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura (St. Paul outside the Walls)


11. San Sebastiano


12. Piazza del Popolo


13. Piazza del Quirinale and the statues of the Dioscuri and their horses


14. Piazza Navona, with Sant’Agnese on the right


15. Piazza della Rotonda with the obelisk fountain and the Pantheon on the right


16. Piazza di Spagna with the Fontana della Barcaccia and the Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti (or Spanish Steps)


17. Fontana dell’Acqua Felice


18. Fontana dell’Acqua Paola


19. Palazzo della Consulta


20. Palazzo di Montecitorio


21. Palazzo Salviati (or Palazzo dell’Accademia di Francia)


22. Palazzo Barberini


23. Harbour and quay called the Ripa Grande


24. Castel Sant’Angelo


25. Temple of Hadrian, or Hadrianeum, in the Piazza di Pietra


26. Santa Costanza (erroneously called the Temple of Bacchus)


27. Capitol and the steps of Santa Maria in Aracoeli


28. Buildings around the Piazza del Campidoglio seen from the side of the stepped ramp, or Cordonata


29. Foro Romano, seen from the Capitoline Hill: the Arch of Septimius Severus in the foreground and the Colosseum in the distance


30. Foro Romano: the Temple of Castor and Pollux and Santa Maria Liberatrice in the left foreground and Monte Aventino in the distance


31. Church of Santa Maria Egiziaca, formerly the Temple of Portunus (sometimes known as the Temple of Fortuna Virile)


32. Foro Romano: the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (or San Lorenzo in Miranda)


33. Trajan’s Forum: Trajan’s Column and Santissimo Nome di Maria


34. Column of Marcus Aurelius (or Colonna Antonina), Piazza Colonna


35. Foro Romano: the Arch of Septimius Severus and the church of Santi Luca e Martina


36. Arch of Constantine and the Colosseum


37. Colosseum


38. Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda


39. Santa Maria di Loreto, Santissimo Nome di Maria and Trajan’s Column


40. San Giovanni in Laterano


41. Arch of Constantine


42. St. Peter’s Basilica: the interior beneath the dome


43. Piazza del Quirinale


44. Villa d’Este, Tivoli


45. Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano: with the obelisk and octagonal baptistery


46. San Giovanni in Laterano


47. Villa Pamphili (or Villa Doria Pamphili): the Casino


48. River Tiber at the mouth of the Cloaca Maxima (formerly called the Bel Lido), with the Temple of Hercules Victor and the campanile of Santa Maria in Cosmedin


49. Santa Maria degli Angeli


50. Pantheon, Piazza della Rotonda, added by Francesco Piranesi (1758–1810)