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• 1 2018-11-12T15:37:39-08:00 View of the Site of the Ancient Roman Forum 27 Veduta del Sito, ov’era l’antico Foro Romano plain 2023-06-26T07:35:43-07:00 Title: Veduta del Sito, ov’era l’antico Foro Romano. Key: 1. Fenili in questo Luogo erano situati i Rostri. 2. Altro luogo, ove poi furono trasportati da Cesare. 3. San Teodoro in questo sito furono trovati Romolo e Remo portati qui dal Tevere presso al Fico Ruminale. 4. Monte Palatino coi Vestigj del Palazzo di Cesare. 5. Santa Maria Liberatrice. 6. Colonne del Tempio di Giove Statore. 7. Vasca di Granito orientale tutta d’un pezzo di estraordinaria grandezza in questo sito eravi la voragine di Curzio. 8. Monte Aventino. 9. Acqua che scorre nella Cloaca massima. Tutta questa parte memorabile nella Storia Romana particolarmente per li Rostri, da quali si perorava al Popolo, si esponevano i Capi degli uccisi, o proscritti, come fu la Veste insanguinata di Cesare da Marcantonio, la testa e mano di Cicerone, ecetera e finalmente presso quali seguirono fatti sanguinosi tra Cittadini Romani. Signature: Presso l’Autore Signature 2: Piranesi Architetto fec(it). Title: View of the Site of the Ancient Roman Forum. Key: 1. Stalls, the Rostra were situated on this site. 2. Another site where the Rostra were located that were then moved by Caesar 3. San Teodoro, in this site Romulus and Remus were found, brought here from the Tiber to the Ficus Ruminalis 4. Palatine Hill with the Ruins of the Palace of Caesar 5. Santa Maria Liberatrice 6. Columns of the Temple of Jupiter Stator. 7. Fountain of oriental Granite, all of which was made from one piece of extraordinary size, on this site there was the Lake of Curtius 8. Aventine Hill 9. Water that flows to the Cloaca Maxima. All this area, memorable in Roman History particularly for the Rostra, from which one would advocate causes to the People, they displayed the heads of those who were killed, or outlawed, for example the bloodied robe of Caesar by Marc Anthony, the head and hand of Cicero, etcetera, and finally, where bloody deeds between Roman Citizens took place. Signature: Published by the Author. Signature 2: Made by the Architect Piranesi. In this “View of the Site of the Ancient Roman Forum,” Piranesi ostensibly provides another close-up to complement the two previous views of the famous site. However, the inclusion of “ancient” in the title not only distinguishes it from the other types of views in this volume but also declares the subject of the print: the history of the space. On the rostrum or raised platform on which orators and magistrates gave speeches, indicated by the first annotation, and in the very same place that Cicero “had flung forth his stunning eloquence” (Boswell 60), his severed head and hands were made a public spectacle by his assassins. While viewers observe the modern eighteenth-century forum in the image, Piranesi’s title and key illuminate one of the most gruesome and, he says, memorable episodes of Roman history—the assassination of orator and politician Cicero.
  
  The contemporary use of this space could not be more different. Where there were once, the caption narrates in gory detail, “i Capi degli uccisi, […] la Veste insanguinata di Cesare, [... è] fatti sanguinosi,” there are, in the eighteenth century, cows peacefully grazing and drinking from a fountain. The rostrum, Piranesi notes, is now used as a “fenile,” a kind of storage facility for grain and bales of hay. The staffage figures in the foreground, including shepherds and tourists, create an almost idyllic atmosphere as they carry on about their daily business, unaware of the area’s fateful past, detailed just below the image’s margin in the key. Zarucchi suggests that this contrast in the different uses of the space is a form of social commentary on Piranesi’s own time, “a critique of the social decay that has surrounded and overwhelmed” a place that once represented a social ideal—where the eloquence of great orators such as Cicero justly represented the tenets of the Roman republic (376-7). This particular anecdote might have also appealed to tourists by adding historical interest to the engraving, especially in a print market flooded with idyllic depictions of the forum. Through the combination of narrative, annotation, and engraving, Piranesi not only allows viewers to see the space represented but also invites readers to learn the history of that space. Whether this view participated in social commentary, a financial strategy, historical observation, or, as is often the case, all three at once, the engraving shows Piranesi’s return to a common theme: his interest in the history of space in terms of use and reuse from ancient to modern times. (ZL)
  
  To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 17 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.