The Digital PiranesiMain MenuAboutThe Digital Piranesi is a developing digital humanities project that aims to provide an enhanced digital edition of the works of Italian illustrator Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778).Works and VolumesGenres, Subjects, and ThemesBibliographyGlossary
View of the Capitoline Hill
12019-11-11T16:57:45-08:00Avery Freemanb9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba228491from Volume 17 of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Opereplain2019-11-11T16:57:45-08:00Internet ArchivedatapiranesiRescan_vol17_0049.jpgAvery Freemanb9edcb567e2471c9ec37caa50383522b90999cba
12018-11-12T15:30:51-08:00View of the Capitoline Hill28Veduta della Piazza del Campidoglioplain2023-06-20T12:53:16-07:00Title: Veduta della Piazza del Campidoglio. Key: 1. Abitazione di Sua Eccellenza il Signore Senatore di Roma. 2. Museo Capitolino. 3. Chiesa, e Convento d’Araceli. 4. Statua Equestre di Marco Aurelio. 5. Trofeo d’Ottaviano Augusto. Signature: Cavalier Piranesi F(ecit).Title: View of the Piazza of the Capitoline Hill. Key: Residence of his Excellence, the Senator of Rome 2. Capitoline Museum 3. Church, and Convent of [Santa Maria] Aracoeli 4. Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius 5. Trophy of Octavian Augustus. Signature: Made by Cavalier Piranesi.Piranesi combines in this view a unique presentation of a popular site with his own pursuit of patronage. The subject of this etching, the Piazza di Campidoglio, lends itself to representations that foreground the dramatic ascent of the cordonata, the main flight of steps. Piranesi dutifully provides such a representation in the previous etching, but atop the hill, he adopts a slightly elevated one-point perspective. He employed a similar orientation, to more dramatic effects, in his expansive views of Renaissance façades but is here restricted by the facing Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. The restrictions of this view and its relegation of antiquity to the image’s edge stand in contrast to the fanciful antiquity he postulates in a capriccio from Prima Parte (1743), which he describes as a generic “ancient Campidoglio,” as opposed to the Campidoglio (Pinto 2012, 49-50). Additionally, the ancient statues are presented from above, either in profile or from the rear, with less imposing effects that neglect the sustained interest he dedicates, for example, to the Trofeo di Ottavio Augusto in a detailed study.
In the foreground, street life firmly locates the Renaissance piazza in the eighteenth century: the bustling activity of carriages and vendors creates a linear boundary, almost entirely in shadow, while sunlight falls on the piazza and the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. With the first item in the key, Piranesi’s practical concerns become clear. He labels the Senatorial Palace as the “Abitazione di Sua Eccellenza il Signore Senatore di Roma.” Don Abbondio Rezzonico, Senator of Rome during Piranesi’s working life, became the artist’s patron, acquiring many of his early publications. His brother Giovanni Battista Rezzonico, Grand Prior of the Order of Malta and a Cardinal, commissioned the only architectural plans of Piranesi’s to be realized—the renovations for Santa Maria del Priorato—in the 1760s. Piranesi is known to have designed interiors for Giovanni Rezzonico’s residence at the Palazzo Quirinale, Don Abbondio’s at the Palazzo Senatorio, and their uncle, Pope Clement XIII’s, at Castel Gandolfo. Although evidence of the actual interiors is scant, Piranesi’s drawings of furniture that the family owned, such as this small table, appear in his Diverse maniere d'adornare i cammini, which he dedicated to Giambattista Rezzonico (Barry 91; Wilton-Ely 1988, 102-3; González-Palacios 224-6). Within a patronage system that placed high value on a shared hometown, the Rezzonico brothers were, as fellow Venetians, powerful connections for an artist whose efforts to depict and preserve antiquity were always intertwined with the necessity of financial support. (JB)
To see this image in the Vedute di Roma, volume 17 of Piranesi’sOpere, click here.
