This page was created by Erin Jones. The last update was by Jeanne Britton.
The Digital PiranesiMain MenuAboutThe Digital Piranesi is a developing digital humanities project that aims to provide an enhanced digital edition of the works of Italian illustrator Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).Works and VolumesGenres, Subjects, and ThemesBibliographyGlossary
View of the Roman Forum (1 of 2)
12018-11-12T15:34:28-08:00Erin Jonesff57f567e7b1b1483367dc101143970f40cd9e262284931Veduta di Campo Vaccinoplain2020-11-20T13:29:54-08:00roman forum, campo vaccino, grand tour, triumphal arch, colosseumTitle: Veduta di Campo Vaccino Key: 1. Vestigie del Tempio di Giove Tonanate 2. Vestigi del Tempio della Concordia 3. Arco di Settimio Severo 4. Antico Errario oggi Sant' Adriano 5. Tempio d’Antonino, e Faustina 6. Tempio di Romolo, e Remo, ora Santi Cosmo, e Damiano 7. Santa Francesca Romana 8. Arco di Tito 9 Vestigie del Palazzo de’ Cesari nel Palatino 10 Colonne del Tempio di Giove Statore 11 Muraglioni dei Rostri 12 Avanzi del Tablino della Casa aurea di Nerone 13 Colosseo 14 Avanzo di due Triclinj della detta Casa aurea 15 Vestigie delle Terme di Tito. Signature: Presso l’Autore a Strada Felice nel palazzo Tomati vicino alla Trinità de’ monti Signature 2: Piranesi del(ineavit). scolp(sit).Title: View of the Roman Forum Key: 1. Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans 2. Ruins of the Temple of Concord 3. Arch of Septimius Severus 4. Ancient Treasury, now called the church of Sant’Adriano 5. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina 6. Temple of Romulus, and Remus, now of the Saints Cosmas and Damian 7. Santa Francesca Romana 8. Arch of Titus 9. Ruins of Caesar’s Palace in the Palatine 10. Columns of the Temple of Jupiter Stator 11. The Walls of the Rostrum 12. Ruins of the Dining Room in the Golden House of Nero 13. Colosseum 14. Ruin of the two dining rooms of the aforementioned Golden House 15. Ruins of the Baths of Titus Signature: Published by the Author in the Strada Felice in Palazzo Tomati near Trinità de Monti. Signature 2: Designed and engraved by Piranesi.Jeanne Brittone120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11
The Forum was and continues to be among the best-preserved sites of ancient Rome. Ruins of triumphal arches, temples, and theaters revealed the city’s multi-layered history, from its origins as the center of Roman politics, to a medieval cattle market (referred to in Piranesi’s title, “Campo Vaccino” [Cow Field]), to the site of papal processions, and finally to the hub of tourism that it is still today. The Forum was considered essential to the formal education of both artists and grand tourists and inspired many from Petrarch and Turner to Goethe and Piranesi to record their impressions in letters, prints, poems, and drawings.
The first of three views of the Forum provides a panorama of the entire site, and it functions as a tourist map. Piranesi depicts and labels all of the must-see landmarks on the Grand Tour itinerary including such highlights as the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum. The print served not only as a map but also as an advertisement. The monuments labeled in the image and in the key were among the first that Piranesi depicted individually in the Views of Rome series (Bevilacqua 53-60), and they initiated his career in the veduta genre. By pointing to these particular monuments, this view forms the visual counterpart to Piranesi’s print catalog, which included the Views of Rome as well as his other works such as the Roman Antiquities. Indeed, tourists could conveniently purchase individual views or the entire series in Piranesi’s print shop.
The business generated by the Grand Tour is further highlighted by the prevalence of ciceroni, or tour guides hired by well-to-do tourists, who theatrically gesture to the ancient ruins throughout the print. On the right, two dilettantes stand atop a fragment— which cannot be distinguished as natural or man-made—pointing to the forum below. The cast of characters in the foreground seem to be deliberately placed so as to accentuate the juxtaposition between neglected ancient fragments in the foreground and the grandeur of the ancient past displayed in the background. While Piranesi’s contemporaries tended to portray the Forum in an idyllic manner, he places a curious emphasis on its crumbling ruins. Perhaps Piranesi sought to inspire viewers to ruminate on the idea of the ruin and the histories it embodied—a topic of particular literary and artistic fascination in the Enlightenment and the Romantic period. The interrupted arches and broken columns could be considered a symbol of irrevocable loss, yet for Piranesi, they “invoked the invisible integrity of an absent corporeality” (Stafford 1991, 64), and a sense of permanence that resisted the ravages of time. (ZL)
To see this image in Vedute di Roma, vol 17 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.
This page has paths:
1media/Picture2.jpgmedia/17 Frontispiece cropped.jpg2018-10-19T10:30:22-07:00Jeanne Brittone120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11Views of Rome (2 of 2)Jeanne Britton37Vedute di Romaimage_header2020-09-07T09:05:13-07:00Jeanne Brittone120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11
This page references:
12019-11-11T16:57:40-08:00View of the Roman Forum (1 of 2)1from Volume 17 of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Opereplain2019-11-11T16:57:40-08:00Internet ArchivedatapiranesiRescan_vol17_0061.jpg