View of the Ponte Salario, from Views of Rome - Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Clarence Buckingham Collection

"View of the Ponte Salario, from Views of Rome" by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1750/59) Etching on heavy ivory laid paper.

Commentary

"View of the Ponte Salario, from Views of Rome" by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1750/59) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close viewing, where line, texture, and contrast do mos t of the expressive work. Themes to notice include etching. 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 etching, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Etching on heavy ivory laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (Image: 38.3 × 60.9 cm (15 1/8 × 24 in.); Plate: 40.6 × 61.6 cm (16 × 24 5/16 in.); Sheet: 55.5 × 77.1 cm (21 7/8 × 30 3/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include etching. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/64575

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