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Transcriber included the plate numbers in their captions.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted
to the public domain.
With an Introduction
by C. H. Reilly, m.a., f.r.i.b.a., Roscoe Professor of Architecture, The University of Liverpool.
SERIES II.
TECHNICAL JOURNALS, Ltd.
CAXTON HOUSE :: WESTMINSTER
INTRODUCTION — TECHNICAL JOURNALS, LTD. — Selected Etchings by Piranesi. — Some Famous Buildings and their Story.
The demand which followed the issue
of the first series of small reproductions
of Piranesi’s etchings has tempted
the Publishers to put forth a further selection.
The mine is, indeed, inexhaustible, but all the
etchings, though of great individual interest,
are not of equal value to architects. For them
Piranesi serves two main purposes: the first,
a stimulus to the imagination; the second, a
store of rich and expressive detail. In this
selection, to assist in the first purpose, are
included a few of his own architectural
designs. These do not, however, in reality
exhibit his great imaginative qualities so well
as his interpretations of actual buildings.
Although Piranesi was careful to see that
he was always styled “Venetian Architect,”
we have no very reliable evidence that he
ever composed a building except on paper,
and such paper plans as he published do not
suggest great practical qualities. It is in his
drawings of the ruins of ancient Rome that he
gives us something at once more rare and
more valuable than any ordinary architectural
achievement. In them he shows us the
inherent romance buried deep in Roman
construction. Through him we learn the
spiritual character of this construction when
stripped of all its worldly ornament. It is
true that in his drawings the buildings have
another sort of decoration—a decoration of
trees and foliage. In the eighteenth century
the ruins had not yet been cleaned and
docketed into museum specimens, but the
romance which Piranesi reveals in arch, vault,
and dome is something deeper than a mere
picturesque contrast with foliage and figures.
The romance he shows us is the romance
of any enduring monument. It is the monumental
quality of Roman construction which
makes it akin to the great works of Nature,
and the trees and vegetation in Piranesi
drawings only help to demonstrate this kinship.
The gesticulating figures serve a
similar purpose. They are the men of a
lesser generation gibbering over the work of
ancestors they only half comprehend.
The other and more prosaic service which
Piranesi can still render to architects, and
especially in these days of neo-Classic detail,
is by means of his careful drawings of antique
ornaments and vases from his own and his
friends’ collections. Here he not only provides
us with an immense fund of detail, but
he draws that detail in a way which gives us
at once the very essence of its character. It
is a character all may not love, but few can
avoid feeling how suitable it is to the age in
which we live.
C. H. R.
Plate 1:
Medallion Portrait of Piranesi.
Plate 2:
Trophy of Arms.Plate 3:
Design for a Bridge.Plate 4:
Design for a Forum.Plate 5:
A Roman Hall.Plate 6:
Imaginary Prison Interior.Plate 7:
Imaginary Prison Interior.Plate 8:
Imaginary Prison Interior.Plate 9:
View of the Campo Vaccino (Forum Romanum).Plate 10:
Temple of Concord.Plate 11:
Arch of Titus.Plate 12:
Arch of Titus.Plate 13:
Arch of Constantine.Plate 14:
Arch of Trajan at Ancona.Plate 15:
Tomb of Cecilia Metella.Plate 16:
Ponte Salario.Plate 17:
Ponte Lugano.Plate 18:
Temple of Ceres.Plate 19:
Forum of Nerva.Plate 20:
Forum of Nerva.Plate 21:
Temple of Bacchus.Plate 22:
Temple of Minerva Medica.Plate 23:
Part of the Colosseum.Plate 24:
Basilica of S. Lorenzo.Plate 25:
Basilica of St. Paul.Plate 26:
Basilica of S. Sebastian.Plate 27:
Trevi Fountain.Plate 28:
Fountain of Pope Paul V.Plate 29:
Felice Fountain.Plate 30:
Palazzo Laterano.Plate 31:
Palazzo Barbarini.Plate 32:
Palazzo Quirinale.Plate 33:
Nave of St. Peter’s.Plate 34:
Interior under the dome of St. Peter’s.Plate 35:
Interior of St. John Lateran.Plate 36:
Pedestal from the Borghese Collection.Plate 37:
Offertory Box from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 38:
Urn from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 39:
Urn from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 40:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 41:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 42:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 43:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 44:
Vase from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 45:
Vases from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 46:
Vases from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 47:
Vases from the “Vasi Candelabri.”Plate 48:
Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”Plate 49:
Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”Plate 50:
Chimneypiece from the “Diverse Maniere.”
SOME INTERESTING PUBLICATIONS ISSUED BY TECHNICAL JOURNALS, LTD. CAXTON HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, LONDON
LIST OF PLATES OF VOLUME I.
1.
Title-page to the “Vedute di Roma.” (Pub. Rome 1751.)
2.
Composition of Ruins.
3.
Bas-relief from the Portico of the Church of the Apostles, Rome.
4.
Antique bas-relief from Naples.
5.
Trophy of Arms.
Designs.
6.
Design for a Grand Staircase.
7.
Design for a Sculpture Gallery.
8.
Design for the Mausoleum of a Roman Emperor.
9.
Sketch Design.
10.
Composition.
Views of Roman Buildings.
11.
Pyramid of C. Cestius, Appian Way.
12.
Temple of Hercules, Cora.
13.
Basilica of Maxentius, Rome.
14.
The Capitol, Rome.
15.
Ditto.
16.
The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, Rome.
17.
The Colosseum.
18.
Tomb of Hadrian (Castle of St. Angelo).
19.
Ponte Molle, Rome.
20.
The Temple of Vesta at Tivoli.
21.
Interior of the Pantheon.
22.
Gallery in Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli.
23.
Ponte St. Angelo.
24.
Temple of Concord, Rome.
25.
Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.
26.
Piazza Navona, Rome.
27.
View of the Churches of the Madonna di Loreto and Santa Maria, by Trajan’s Column, Rome.
28.
Piazza of St. Peter’s, Rome.
29.
Antique Equestrian statues (Castor and Pollux) on the Quirinal, Rome.
30.
The Quirinal, Rome.
Imaginary Roman Prisons.
31.
Etching from the series of imaginary Roman Prisons.
32.
Ditto.
Vases, Tripods, &c.
33.
Vase from “Vasi Candelabri.” (Pub. Rome, 1778.)
34.
Vase from ditto.
35.
Vase from ditto.
36.
Vase from ditto.
37.
Vase and tripod from ditto.
38.
Vase and pedestal from ditto.
39.
Tripod from “Vasi Candelabri.”
40.
Tripod and bas-relief from ditto.
41.
Tripod from ditto.
42.
Lamp from ditto.
43.
Vases from ditto.
44.
Altar from ditto.
Chimneypieces.
45.
Design for Chimneypiece from “Diverse Maniere.”
46.
Ditto.
47.
Ditto.
48.
Ditto.
49.
Ditto.
50.
Design for a Chimneypiece and clock from “Diverse Maniere.”
Buildings that have been the scene of historical
events, or have played a distinctive part in the
development of national life, are commonly dealt with
either at length in a most unattractive style, or dismissed
in a few sentences embodying dates and particulars
which are frequently inaccurate. Thus, the general
reader finds himself confronted with two extremes,
alike unsatisfactory. It was with the express object of
correcting these deficiencies in respect of certain famous
buildings that the authors compiled the series of short
papers which constitute the volume under notice. They
have been at great pains in their task, and, as the result
of much original research, a flood of fresh light is
thrown upon the subjects dealt with, every chapter
adding some new fact to previous knowledge, or reproducing
some hitherto unknown or neglected plan. In
this way we have set before us, by means of description
and illustration, the most remarkable of all Henry VIII.’s
palaces—Nonsuch, in Surrey, whose wanton destruction
was probably the heaviest loss which English architecture
has suffered since the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The Tower of London, dealt with in another chapter,
offers a wealth of interest when critical research and
architectural acumen are brought into play, and in the
same way the Royal Palace of Eltham, Northumberland
House, Sir Thomas More’s House at Chelsea, the Fortune
Theatre, Barking Abbey, and other famous buildings are
dealt with.
One Volume. 5s.NETT.275 pages.
CAXTON HOUSE, WESTMINSTER, LONDON
PRINTED BY VACHER AND SONS, LTD., WESTMINSTER HOUSE, LONDON, S.W.
