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1. 1 2020-05-31T14:25:26-07:00 Avery Freeman b9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba B Jeanne Britton 4 plain 2021-04-26T17:11:14-07:00 Jeanne Britton e120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11
2. 1 2020-05-31T14:25:21-07:00 Avery Freeman b9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba C Jeanne Britton 4 plain 2021-04-26T17:11:40-07:00 Jeanne Britton e120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11
3. 1 2020-05-31T14:25:32-07:00 Avery Freeman b9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba A Jeanne Britton 3 plain 2021-04-26T17:11:40-07:00 Jeanne Britton e120651dde677d5cf1fd515358b14d86eb289f11

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• 1 2021-03-30T11:16:09-07:00 Remains of the Neronian Theater on the Palatine Hill 4 Avanzo del Teatro Neroniano domestico sul Palatino plain 2024-10-18T13:16:34-07:00 A. Avanzo del Teatro Neroniano domestico sul Palatino. B. Avanzi dalla parte esterna delle pareti del Peristilo di Nerone. C. Altri avanzi delle Casa Neroniana.; Piranesi Architett(o) dis(egnò) e inc(ise). A. Remains of the Neronian Theater on the Palatine Hill. B. Remains of the exterior part of the walls of the Peristyle in the House of Nero. C. Other remains of the House of Nero.; Drawn and engraved by the Architect Piranesi.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Though it lacks the stark visual drama of some of Piranesi’s other views, this print captures a lively controversy about the architectural legacy of the Emperor Nero among Piranesi and his contemporaries. Throughout Piranesi’s Antichità Romane and Vedute di Roma, he reconstructs the complex of monuments built under Nero, often disagreeing with previous identification of the ruins. In this print’s annotations, Piranesi makes the argument that Nero built the entirety of the curved “theater” at left (A), the peristyle at center (B), and the palace at right (C) that stretch across the image. Now archaeologists know that the “theater” was in fact the exedra of the Palatine Stadium built by Domitian. 
  
  Here, an expansive landscape, with recognizably manmade structures like arcades, is frequently interrupted and overwhelmed by rubble and overgrowth. The staffage figures help to determine scale that would be otherwise difficult to establish: note how diminutive the two pointing figures near “A” appear compared to the two framed under the arch in the foreground. 
  
  Piranesi also highlights the contemporary threat to Neronian remains: over several prints, he not only traces the course of the Neronian aqueduct, but also pointedly observes, in his “Veduta dell'avanzo del Peristilo della Casa Neroniana,” that the remains of the aqueduct leading to the Palatine were going to be “distruggere per la loro vecchiezza, ma per ordine di Nostro Signore Papa Clemente XIV” [destroyed because of their old age but on the orders of Our Lord Pope Clement XIV have remained standing]. In doing so, he flatters the pope and positions himself, the documentarian, as their co-preserver. This and the following etching of Nero’s remains on the Palatine indicate that, to Piranesi, the ancient world and the work of preserving its remains were ever-present, modern concerns. (AH)