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• 1 2018-12-04T15:42:18-08:00 View of the Piazza di Spagna 19 Veduta di Piazza di Spagna plain 2022-07-13T08:57:18-07:00 Title: Veduta di Piazza di Spagna Key: 1. Fontana detta la Barcaccia, Architettura del Cavalier Bernino. 2. Scalinata, che conduce sul Monte Pincio. 3. Chiesa col Monastero della Santissima Trinità de’Monti officiata dai Frati Minimi di San Francesco di Paola della Nazione Franzese. 4. Strada del Babuino, che và alla Porta del Popolo. 5. Obelisco sulla Piazza del Popolo. Signature: Presso l’Autore a Strada Felice nel palazzo Tomati vicino alla Trinità de’ monti Signature 2: Piranesi Architetto fec(it). Title: View of the Piazza di Spagna Key: 1. Fountain called the Barcaccia, Architecture by Cavalier Bernini. 2. Stairway that leads to the Pincian Hill 3. Church of the Monastery of the Santissima Trinità de’ Monti, of the French Nation, overseen by the Frati Minimi of San Francesco di Paola 4. Street of the Babuino, that goes to the Porta del Popolo 5. Obelisk on the Piazza del Popolo. Signature: Published by the Author in the Strada Felice in Palazzo Tomati near Trinità de' Monti. Signature 2: Made by the Architect Piranesi. Piranesi’s view of the Piazza di Spagna includes informative and directional annotations that orient us as viewers of his image, readers of his text, and walkers within the city. As the close-up from Piranesi’s “Pianta di Roma e del Campo Marzio” below illustrates, the piazza itself is an angular space, formed where two narrow triangles converge. Piranesi’s visual composition echoes this geometry, with the ascent of the steps positioned at an angle, the shadow that darkens half of the steps, and the Via del Babuino leading into the distance on the left. Piranesi’s annotations also move us in ways that parallel what John Pinto calls the “hotly contested” nature of this international space, bounded by the French-operated church and monastery and the Spanish Embassy (2000, 114).
  As one of his earlier views, which tended to depict major monuments and emphasize contemporary street life, this image of 1750 includes annotations that echo the implied movement of the image. The numerical key proceeds from Pietro and Gianlorenzo Bernini’s Barcaccia Fountain at the center of the image up the steps that, Piranesi specifies, lead up the Pincian Hill to the Trinità dei Monti, operated by the French Catholic order of Minims, which was founded by Saint Francis of Paola. The third caption then directs us down the Via Babuino, cast in deep recession, towards the faintly-etched, barely visible obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo. Another caption, which appears throughout his views of Rome, “Presso l’autore a Strada Felice nel palazzo Tomati vicino alla Trinità de’monti,” has special significance here. Piranesi’s print shop (which was also his residence) was in the Palazzo Tomati, on Strada Felice (today called via Sistina), at number 41. In the close-up above, it would be midway between the Piazza della Trinità dei Monti and the Piazza Barberini, on the upper left. Directing tourists to his print shop with this caption, and orienting them with his annotations, Piranesi offers a commercial walking guide to the readers of this image. (JB)
  
  To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 16 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.