About the Exhibition

PIRANESI'S ROME highlights the masterful etchings by the 18th century artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the GW Collection. Piranesi was more than a mere printmaker of his time. He was a visionary architect and proto-archaeologist who set the tone for how successive generations comprehend the ‘Eternal City.’ The scope of his influence is far reaching, not only among scholars who study the ruins of Ancient Rome, but also among artists and poets who see in his prints the sublime reality of Rome’s grandeur and eventual decay in the annals of history. Through his series “Vedute di Roma” (Views of Rome) and “Le Antichità Romane” (Roman Antiquities), this exhibit showcases Piranesi’s artistry through his exaggerated scale and meticulous detail of Ancient Rome. Piranesi utilizes the classical technique of chiaroscuro, an Italian term for contrast of light and dark. Through the dichotomy of black and white, Piranesi is able to animate the architecture with incredible detail and leave viewers in awe. It is perhaps because of his dramatic vision that Theophile Gautier called Piranesi the “Rembrandt of Ruins.” The lessons gained by contemplating Piranesi’s prints, particularly in his series “Vedute di Roma” and “Le Antichità Romane,” continue to resonate in our own times as we see the ruins of a once great civilization both stand the test of time and crumble in fragmented form.

The exhibit also features Piranesi’s “Carceri d’Invenzione,” in which the artist’s imaginative series of labyrinthine prisons evokes a sense of entrapment through its impossible architecture. This fantastical exploration of scale and space contrasts with his works depicting Rome by inviting disorientation at the suspension of the onlooker’s belief in the laws of physics. Together, these series reveal Piranesi’s penchant to depict a maddening sense of scale and an imagined view of reality that make both the ruins of an ancient empire and the depths of the human psyche equally monumental.

This exhibition invites viewers to compare Rome as it stands today with Piranesi’s view. How did Piranesi depart from reality to create his artistic vision and when did he accurately portray these ruins as he saw them in the 18th century? How do his views compare with how we see them today? Where do we draw the line between realism and the imaginary?

These are just a few of the questions that have captured the imagination of artists, poets, and philosophers. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the renowned German writer, poet, and thinker, in his famous work Italian Journey (1786–1788), noted that the city appeared a bit smaller than he expected since he studied Piranesi’s prints before he made his first trip to Rome. Despite his initial “disappointment,” Goethe saw in Piranesi’s vision of Rome a powerful artistic expression that brought the ancient world to life. This same view resonated for the English Romantic poet Lord Byron in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, where Byron describes the ruins of Rome as a reflection of the ancient civilization’s former glory and present decay.

Piranesi’s prints were also widely circulated in the 18th century, helping to ignite the Neoclassical movement for his generation. Piranesi’s emphasis on the grandeur of Roman architecture further echoed in the Founding Fathers’ vision for America’s public spaces, especially here in Washington D.C., where Roman architecture was seen as a symbol of the nation’s democratic ideals and stability. Piranesi’s scholarly and artistic engagement with the Eternal City has created a dialogue across centuries, inviting spectators to reflect on the transformation of Rome and the layers of history that continue to shape its identity.