This page was created by Erin Jones. The last update was by Jeanne Britton.
View of the Roman Forum (2 of 2)
Moving with "cinematic" pacing, Piranesi takes viewers from a panorama shot, seen in the previous view, to a close-up of the very heart of the forum. This perspectival shift demonstrates one of Piranesi's primary visual strategies: creating a sequence of views that engage with specific debates in each print, while also presenting a unified argument across prints (and in many cases, even across volumes). This juxtaposition of views, or "intellectual montage" in the words of director Sergei Eisenstein (Tafuri, The Sphere and the Labyrinth, 56), of the forum enhances the monumentality of the ancient ruins, particularly in contrast to the contemporary built environment.
On the immediate right, the three massive yet ravaged columns of the Temple of Giove Statore tower over the miniscule human figures, who appear as though faded shadows. Rendered in shallow relief, like the modern buildings that frame the print, they are merely specks in a sea of decaying grandeur. Sitting precariously over the corinthian capitals and pieces of fluted pilasters, the broken architrave of the Temple continues to outshine the most pristine modern buildings on the right. Though in the far distance, the coffered vaults of the Golden House of Nero (labeled 8) loom over the surrounding buildings and are framed only by the clouds. The archways of the Colosseum, rendered with greater force of the burin on the plate, appear darker and more detailed, especially when compared to the flat, white, and empty surface of the Church of Santa Francesca Romana (labeled 6). While the magnificence of Roman architecture and urban design is shown here through monumentality, history supports Piranesi's visual argument in the following print of the forum.
To see this image in Vedute di Roma, vol 17 of Piranesi's Opere, click here.
