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The Digital Piranesi

View of a part of the exedra of Trajan's forum

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View of a Part of the Exedra of Trajan's Forum

In this first of two views of the Forum of Trajan on the same page, Piranesi renders the so-called Markets of Trajan, a monumental building, extending behind an exedra and abutting Rome’s Quirinal Hill. Large, vaulted interiors open onto multiple chambers, believed to serve as stalls of an indoor marketplace. The building's precise function has been questioned, as some scholars believe it served an administrative function in addition to the marketplace. Captured from the ground level and looking up, the veduta includes a caption that reads “Veduta del secondo’ordine di una parte della Calcidica del Foro di Traiano.” The distinct semicircular plan of the exedra can be seen as 261 on the map of Rome at the beginning of the volume. An annular vault runs behind the visible arches of the second story, which functions as a corridor for a series of rooms.

The Forum of Trajan was inaugurated in 112 CE and, constructed with proceeds from Trajan’s successful military campaigns against the Dacians in the early second century, became the largest imperial forum. CE. It was designed by the great architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, who was responsible for other monumental commissions, such as the Temple of Venus and Rome, and the new Pantheon built under Hadrian.

Standing in the Forum of Trajan today, two stories of arches are visible. Piranesi’s veduta notably only includes the second story of arches; the ground floor remains buried, as he acknowledges: “Ella è di tre ordini il primo de’ quali è interrato nelle rovine” (Index to the Map of Rome, no. 260 and 261). As the site was not fully excavated during Piranesi’s lifetime, his view depicts the upper level of the exedra. Flooding of the Tiber would have contributed to the massive accumulation of earth that covered one story of the Forum of Trajan. Piranesi’s views of the nearby Roman Forum show a similar instance of accumulated earth, which cuts off or conceals ancient monuments, such as the Arch of Septimius Severus. The ruined exedra is populated with sparse staffage figures, who loiter around the arches, providing a sense of the dramatic height of the arches (nearly 2.5 times a human figure’s height). As the second story, the arches would have served as windows, providing light into the annular, vaulted corridor. Given the higher ground level at Piranesi’s time, the windowsills are cut to the ground level, transforming them into doorways for access into the corridor.

Although ancient architecture accounts for most of the image, three out of the four annotations specify modern architecture: a “Porta antica appartenente al terz’ordine” (A), referring to one of the only ancient traces of the third story; “Muro moderno” (B); “Giardino del Signor Marchese Ceva” (C); and “Fabbriche moderne sopra le rovine del Foro di Nerva” (D), referring to the modern structure built on top of the ruins of the hemicycle. A wall, a garden, and entire buildings stem from the ancient structure, proving the continued use of the complex and the integration of antiquity and modernity.

Layers serve as a trope for Piranesi throughout Le Antichità Romane: those of the ancient, Medieval, and early modern urban fabric build on one another in countless sites. Modern Rome emerges gradually as a palimpsest atop the ruins and is clearly visible in the so-called Markets of Trajan. Piranesi places viewers on the contemporary ground level, where they can experience the curved exedra from the ground up and appreciate the multiple layers that have developed over time. An architectural fragment, perhaps part of a pediment fallen from above the arches, falls into the caption, employing another of Piranesi’s preferred tropes, the trompe l’oeil. (SAH)