1756
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Plan of Rome is a 1756 by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This print shows an ancient Roman city map with crumbling walls and scattered ruins. It’s not a simple map—it’s layered with extra lines and notes in the corners. Piranesi drew this to show how Rome looked in the past, not just the streets but the whole city at once. The print uses many tiny details to make the ruins feel real. You can almost touch the cracked stone and crooked paths. This wasn’t just art—it helped people study history before photos existed. Try looking up Piranesi, Giovanni Battista next.
The *Plan of Rome* by Giovanni Battista Piranesi is part of the 1756 publication *Le Antichità Romane*, a four-volume work dedicated to analyzing the urban structure of ancient Rome through its walls and other architectural remains. Originally sponsored by Lord Charlemont, the project expanded beyond its initial scope, leading to financial disputes and alterations, including the removal of the dedication in later editions. Piranesi’s work introduced a new archaeological approach to documenting Rome’s ancient topography. The copperplates for this print are preserved in the Istituto Centrale…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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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