The placement of this image within the first volume of Le Antichità Romane is significant. After the Index to the Map of Rome and three more technical prints, Piranesi’s volume continues with a veduta of a monument, the remains of the Amphitheatre Castrense. Here, people appear for the first time in the volume. These staffage figures roam around monuments in most of his prints, serving many purposes across his works, such as pointing to what Piranesi wants us to see. In this image the staffage figures are outside an amphitheater that was part of the Imperial complex. The older and larger amphitheater, the Colosseum, hosted the general population, while this amphitheater was meant for the Emperor, his family, and their households. The building appears in another print by Piranesi (c. 1745), in his Varie vedute di Roma antica e moderna (1748), which was likely created around the same time (Mariani 2014, 123).  

The human figures in this print contribute to its demonstration of the continued vulnerability of Rome’s ancient monuments, since the Amphitheatre was partially demolished in the past and the site was still being excavated and plundered in Piranesi's time. Piranesi reflects on this threat, pointing out, for example, “avanzo del secondo ordine” [remains of the second order] (B) that are no longer there because they had “sofferte le ingiurie de’ Barbari” [suffered damage by the Barbarians] (Index to the Map of Rome, no. 15). The figures in the image reflect this ongoing threat. Are they merely wandering around, directing our attention, or, perhaps, looking for spolia? Piranesi himself participated in and profited from this practice: he employed restorers Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799) and Giuseppe Angelini (1735-1811) in the creation of his own pseudo-ancient designs that incorporated ancient ornaments he found.  He depicted such pastiches in his Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi, tripodi, lucerne ed ornamenti antichi and sold them in his shop (Wilton-Ely 1978, 111; Udy 1978, 823; Pinto 2012, 124-126). 

Looking closely at the staffage figure on the horse in the lower right additionally reveals that Piranesi changed the scene while working on this copperplate. As part of his working method, he always determined where the image and text should appear on the copperplate. To make this boundary visible, he delineated the space for the image by demarcating a rectangle on the wax-covered plate, clearly seen in the left, top and right lines within the edges of the platemark, which were captured when the plate went into acid. Following this plan, the text would not have been part of the image, but would have been placed below it, as it is in many cases, such as the previous image. Instead, Piranesi changed his mind and decided to include the text in the image, which he accomplished by adding more etching lines (Mariani 2014, 123-124). This revision made more space available for the image. He continued his scene across the bottom line next to the caption in the center, adding legs to the man and horse on the scene’s right-hand side, and making text a part of the scene. This change is visible in the faint horizontal line though the horse’s upper hind leg. 

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Piranesi is known for not respecting the predetermined rectangles of his plates. He also pushes against the boundary here in the upper section where the top of the campanile of the Santa Croce protrudes, creating a trompe l’oeil effect. Close attention to the staffage figures in this volume’s first populated image can reveal his motivations and production methods. (ML) 

To see this image in the first volume of Le Antichità Romane, volume 1 of Piranesi’s Opere, click here.