1748
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Foro di Augusto is a 1748 by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a grand, ruined courtyard with tall columns and crumbling walls. In the center, an archway frames a distant view of a city on a hill. Trees and bushes grow between the broken stone, and a small building sits to the left. The light falls unevenly, creating deep shadows and stark contrasts. The artist used shading to make the ruins look dramatic and mysterious. The way light hits the columns and walls gives them a sense of depth and age. Look up chiaroscuro to see how this technique works in other art.
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (Italian pronunciation: ; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his…
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