This page was created by Alexis Kratzer. The last update was by Jeanne Britton.
View of the Customs House in the Piazza di Pietra
The distinction Piranesi makes between “restoration” and “remaking” is especially enlightening in terms of his own artistic practice of restoring antiquities both in print and in his museum. While in the Vedute di Roma ancient and modern are fused architecturally, this view of the same ruins from his Campus Martius volume demonstrates Piranesi’s approach to restoration on paper by visually excavating, and verbally noting, the ancient ruins from their successive additions: the eleven Corinthian columns (1) and barrel-vaulted room with a coffered roof (2). Piranesi depicts a past that is no longer visible. Together, the two views, one of the past and one of the present, restore the lost history of the temple. (ZL)
To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 16 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.