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).VolumesBibliographyGlossary and Abbreviations
Another view of the Temple of Concord
12019-11-11T16:57:27-08:00Avery Freemanb9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba228491from Volume 17 of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Opereplain2019-11-11T16:57:27-08:00Internet ArchivedatapiranesiRescan_vol17_0073.jpgAvery Freemanb9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba
12018-11-12T15:35:56-08:00Another view of the Temple of Concord19Altra Veduta degli avanzi del Pronao del Tempio della Concordiaplain2020-11-20T12:09:32-08:00roman forum, temple of concord, veduta, templeITALIAN: Title: Altra Veduta degli avanzi del Pronao del Tempio della Concordia. 1. Arco di Settimio Severo. 2. Santa Martina. Signature: Cavalier Piranesi F(ecit). ENGLISH: Title: Another View of the ruins of the Pronaos of the Temple of Concord Key: 1. Arch of Septimius Severus. 2. Santa Martina Signature: Made by the Knight Piranesi.This “other view”’ or “altra veduta” of the Temple of Concord—specifically, of the remains of its pronaos—is darker in tone than Piranesi’s other engravings of this ancient monument. While the Temple is the primary subject of the following view, here, Piranesi sheds a harsh light on its contemporary environment. The temple is surrounded by a group of drunkards, gamblers, and rogues seen in the foreground, as well as an outcropping of temporary structures, most prominently including a stable and carriage house. It has been consumed by the banal and tawdry affairs of Roman contemporary life. Art Historian Jeanne Morgan Zarucchi argues that the images Piranesi titles “other views” all “evoke scenes of poverty and pathos ... a darker vision of the life that goes on amid the crumbling ruins” (Zarucchi 367). The prominent role of “staffage” figures in the scene highlight another side of the Grand Tour, one associated with decay, corruption, and vice (Zarucchi 368, Black 138). The apparent similarity between the figure groupings among this and the following view only serves to underscore their differences. For example, the horse on the left, whose bulbous behind faces viewers, is “laden with two large barrels” and, as a result, “can barely raise its hoof” from transporting excessive amounts of alcohol (Zarruchi 376). The doors of the carriage house creak open to reveal not only sinister figures in the shadows but, more importantly, a debased transformation of a formerly prestigious and historically significant monument. (ZL)
To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 17 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.