With its large scale, rectilinear arrangement, and single image, this architectural plan of what was believed to be the residence of Augustus is quite visually distinct from the preceding prints. In those images, plans are juxtaposed with other elements: vedute, cross-sections, medals, and illusionistic depictions of stone or paper. In this and the image that follows in the Didot edition, Giovanni Battista’s son Francesco expands on the material content of his father’s archaeological studies, but he eschews their aesthetic or illusionistic elements. These two plans were first added to the second, posthumous edition of Le Antichità Romane that was published in 1784, and they were included again in the Didot edition of Piranesi’s works in the 1830s. Annexed to the first volume of Le Antichità Romane, they demonstrate Piranesi’s inspiration for further archaeological study and call attention to the uncommon features of his approach to the genre of the architectural plan. 

The subject of this and the following plan is the Domus Augustana or Domus Augusti, a sprawling palace on the Palatine Hill, which began to be excavated in the eighteenth century. Francesco zooms in on this expansive structure, labelling each interior space, and including extensive annotations that provide details about residential spaces and architectural features, such as a room where fragments of a statue were found. He also describes his method of visualization, which adds a third element to the method his father, and other antiquarian illustrators, were using. Francesco specifies that the blackest tint of ink indicates extant remains, the lighter tint indicates discoveries of partially extant remains, and the lightest tint indicates reconstructions. In the following image, which also foregoes creative artistry in favor of clarity and information, Francesco’s close-up on this structure moves to the lower floor. (JB)