Sheet of Sketches: Six Figures - Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Gift of Tiffany and Margaret Blake

"Sheet of Sketches: Six Figures" by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1768/78) Pen and black and gray ink on ivory laid paper.

Commentary

"Sheet of Sketches: Six Figures" by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1768/78) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include drawings (visual works). This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Giovanni Battista Piranesi is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Giovanni Battista Piranesi Italian, 1720-1778. The work is cataloged within a Italy cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as drawings (visual works), which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Pen and black and gray ink on ivory laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (23.1 × 36.5 cm (9 1/8 × 14 3/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include drawings (visual works). Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/113520

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data