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Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778): Urns

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778)

Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sacrofagi, Tripodi Lucerne ed ornamenti antichi

Rome, 1778

Engravings

These remarkable, original engravings come from a work entitled Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sacrofagi, Tripodi Lucerne ed ornamenti antichi by Giovanni Battista Piranesi. This work was compiled and published in Rome in 1778. Piranesi had begun the etchings for the plates in this work as early as 1768. As an aside to his print business, Piranesi also dealt in antiquities with some of the leading aristocrats of the time. As certain beautiful and valuable possessions passed through his hands, he took the opportunity to etch depictive plates of these objects. Finally, in 1778, he compiled these plates into Vasi, Candelabri... These plates come from that work. The images are engraved on fine, laid paper.

Piranesi's engravings are perhaps among the finest printed works produced in the eighteenth century. His work has been continuously sought after from the time of publication to the present day.