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• 1 2021-03-30T11:16:11-07:00 View of the Seven Remaining Corridors of the Second Floor of the Tepidarium of the Baths of Titus, Called the Seven Halls 7 Vedute de sette anditi residuale del secondo piano del Tepidario delle Terme di Tito, detto le Sette Sale plain 2024-10-17T07:40:46-07:00 Vedute de sette anditi residuale del secondo piano del Tepidario delle Terme di Tito, detto le Sette Sale.; Piranesi Archit(etto) dis(egnò) inc(ise). View of the seven remaining corridors of the second floor of the Tepidarium of the Baths of Titus, called the Seven Halls; Drawn and engraved by the Architect Piranesi.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  This unique perspective of the Tepidarium of the Baths of Titus highlights three features that Piranesi turns to throughout the volume: the manipulation of the viewer’s perspective, architectural structures significant for water distribution, and, most strikingly, the use of trompe l’œil where image intersects with text. The print blends Piranesi’s eye for architectural details with his dramatization of ancient ruins through his mastery of scale, perspective, and light. When taking in the full print, the viewer has the impression that they have already stepped inside the thermal complex been immersed within the structure’s crumbling brick walls. This effect is heightened by Piranesi’s use of trompe l’œil, in the center-bottom of the page, to enhance the viewer’s sense of immersion. Emerging from a decaying brick wall in the center of the baths, the fallen columns and logs littered across the bottom of the print spill out of the image frame and forward, toward the viewer; a log, and what appears to be a large block of stone, cast their shadow across the text caption below the print. In many of Piranesi’s larger vedute, similar accruals of rubble can create obstacles to a viewer’s imaginative entry into the scenes they depict (Verschaffel). Here, the resulting effect emphasizes the extension of the fallen logs and columns outside of the image frame and draws a direct line between the viewer and the interior of the thermal complex, as though the viewer is already standing inside the structure.  
   
  The trompe l'oeil effect in this print reverses that of another in this volume, the “Remains of the Castellum of the Acqua Claudia and Anione Nuovo.” In this latter print, the trompe l’œil is inverted, breaking through the center of the text caption and appearing to draw the text into the image. However, in this print, the image extends over the frame, blurring the vertical lines articulating the shadow from the protruding logs with the script of the caption.  
   
  The viewer’s eye is also swept toward the back of the print, following the direction of the arches of the baths, which curve at the top of the frame towards the right. A ray of light streams across the back wall, creating an impression that the corridor may yet extend further beyond the image. The viewer’s impression of being drawn both in and beyond the corridor, along with the high arches of the baths, and the striking lighting, heighten the sense of drama underpinning the image.  
   
  Unlike several other prints within this volume, which are filled with staffage figures exploring Rome’s ancient structures and annotations identifying their features, this print depicts very few people and lacks annotations. This also increases the dramatic effect of the space, leaving the walls empty, bare, and uninterrupted by Piranesi’s informative indications. Instead,   viewers have the opportunity to focus on the simple, yet striking beauty of the symmetrical arches that draw us into the scene and lead into the depths of the print. (CBA)