Piranesi Carceri xi
Piranesi Carceri xiCarceri D'Invenzione - print 11, second edition
This intaglio print was made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the 1760�s. It was the eleventh in a series of fourteen, entitled �Carceri D�invenzione�, or �Prison of Creation�. Piranesi had much architectural influence, his father being a stonemason and brother an architect. The prison scene was a relatively common subject in surviving designs for eighteenth century stage sets. Examples of this can be found in the drawings of Filippo Juvarra, whose designs for Cardinal Ottoboni�s theatre were a source of particular inspiration for Piranesi. The actual purpose behind this etching, and in fact the series, is not precisely know. The events that occurred in Rome in the 1700�s do not give us much of an insight. However, it has been written in numerous books that the Carceri was a product of opium-induced hallucinations. It has also been suggested that Piranesi�s inspiration was previous Roman art itself. Roman art and architecture had a profound impact not only on the succeeding art of the Middle Ages, but on this Renaissance and baroque period as well. John Welton-Ely, in The Mind and the Art of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, went one step further in suggesting the Carceri was
...a gesture of defiance to the partons and
architects...
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