Piranesi. Sonderausgabe [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

The Venetian Piranesi (1720-1778) prided himself on being an architect attributing to his profession the power to revolutionize the world, but oddly he never got the opportunity to build anything. Instead he developed an almost unparalleled mastery of the art of engraving and became an active archaeologist, a zealot defending the claim of Roman antiquity's architectural superiority to that of (a.o.) ancient Greece. He never realized his artistic ambitons : restoring Rome with architecture worthy of its ancient glory. Instead he had to economically support himself by publishing and selling an amazing amount of etchings.

The series he is most known for in our time are on the one hand the "Carceri", a set of darkly haunting fantastic prison scenes that plays with perspective in a way that preludes the work of Escher. On the other hand there are the "Vedute di Roma" : breathtakingly executed sights of Rome that exemplify Piranesi's vision of a dilapidated Rome at the same time in awe of and suffocated by its architectural heritage.

There is however far more to Piranesi's art, as is abundantly shown in these "Complete Etchings". Over a thousand etchings are grouped in this delightful book and they show the staggering breadth and depth of the artist's interests and ambitions. The reproductions are simply marvelous : shown on a cream coloured background the artwork is reproduced with a stunning clarity and sharpness. No postage stamp size plates in this edition (as in so many other ghastly illustrated "Complete Works" endeavours) : maximum two etchings are reproduced per page allowing the reader to fully savour the manic detail of these graphic jewels.

Moreover this publication offers, apart from a short biography, a delightful index of all of Piranesi's subject matters. This allows the reader to easily look up the different treatments of a single building throughout the artist's career. This provides some fascinating insights. Take for instance the Roman Pantheon - a subject that Piranesi has treated no less than nine times : seven times he gives a fairly accurate contemporary picture of the building, once he shows it in its full original splendour and once - in the "Vedute" series - the stage set designer completely takes over from the conscientious documentalist and we get a view of the building's pronaos that is such an exuberant exaggeration of the temple's actual proportions that the human figures seem like ants dwarfed by the dark and looming columns of the building. Fascinating...

Is there nothing negative to be said about this edition ? Well, yes, of course, but given the splendid value for money this book provides you with, all criticism looks a bit like nitpicking. Still, here goes.

I would have liked a bit more detail in the biography written by L.Ficacci, especially about the nature of the intellectual debate Piranesi was so involved in and how he was perceived by his conteporaries - not just his competitors in the engraving business, but by the different factions of scholars participating in the debate. The reason why he never got a real architect's commission is also something that is tantalizingly avoided in this text (although I can imagine that patrons would have shied away after one look at the architectrual fantasies he put on paper : they make the stage sets of Cecil B.DeMille look subdued...).

Another point of criticism is that this book lets us see the eye of the artist, but fails to let us hear his voice. The author points out that the etchings were often not separate works of art but were published together with texts that intensively referred to the prints. However, not a single example of Piranesi's writings is offered in the entire book and that is a pity.

Finally, leafing through this book one often wonders which of the buildings in the etchings have survived to this day and which ones have not, when have they disappeared, where was their exact location and what have they been replaced with ? No answers are offered here. We'll just have to wait for somebody else to make an architectural guide for Rome based on Piranesi's artwork.

Forget the last three alineas and rush out to buy this book. It offers a unique opportunity to get to an in-depth knowledge of the work of one of the most fascinating 18th century Italian artists. The plates, with their seemingly endless detail will provide you with hours of visual delight.