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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
Lateral view of the remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina
12020-04-10T20:59:17-07:00Avery Freemanb9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba228494from Volume 01 of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Opereplain2022-09-08T08:14:11-07:00Internet Archiveimagepiranesi-ia-vol1-053.jpgZoe Langeref2dd00d773765a8b071cbe9e59fc8bf7c7da399
12021-03-30T11:16:10-07:00Lateral View of the Remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina8Veduta laterale dell'avanzo del Tempio di Antonino e Faustinaplain2024-10-24T13:54:02-07:00Veduta laterale dell'avanzo del Tempio di Antonino e Faustina.; A. Pronao. B. Segni lasciati nelle Colonne dall’appoggio di un tetto de’ tempi bassi. C. Muro del Tempio, anticamente investito di marmi. D. Avanzo del Tempio di Castore e Polluce.; Piranesi Archit(etto) dis(egnò) inc(ise).Lateral view of the remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.; A. Pronaos. B. Marks on the Columns left by supports to a roof built in the low times. C. Wall of the Temple, covered with marble in ancient times. D. Remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux.; Drawn and engraved by the Architect Piranesi.
This unusual and unexpected view of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, in the Roman Forum, evinces Piranesi’s predilection for Roman architecture, building techniques, and materials. The second-century CE temple is viewed from the side, in what Piranesi calls a “lateral” view, which emphasizes its architectural layout and construction. Great attention is paid to the moulding of the cornice and the detailed frieze that tops the Corinthian columns of the pronaos (A), elements often given only cursory attention in Piranesi’s more sweeping views. Piranesi also emphasizes a series of fractures in the marble columns, (B) which he suggests resulted from centuries of supporting an ancient roof, no longer extant. Like the missing roof, Piranesi notes that the ancient walls of the cella were once clad in marble (C). His attention to the ancient architecture and its ornament goes some way to reconstructing the ancient reality of the building.
Where Piranesi attends carefully with his pen and burin to the ancient aspects of the building and to its absent marble cladding and roof, he actively diminishes the modern context. The “lateral” choice of vantage point not only affords the most opportunity to comment on the ancient construction, but it also allows Piranesi to avoid entirely the later Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda and its edifice, which had been rebuilt into and above the temple cella in the seventeenth century. By contrast, his large veduta of the same structure, which adopts a more traditional vantage point, emphasizes the ancient temple through a selective cropping out of modern buildings. The corner of a modern church building (the subsequently demolished Chiesa di Santa Maria Liberatrice), which stands opposite the ancient columns (D) of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, and the small buildings behind, are the only indications that the viewer has not travelled back in time to antiquity. (SB)
