View of the Remains of the Praetorian Fort [the Poecile], Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, from Views of Rome1770
The towering walls of a great enclosure at Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli, known in Piranesi’s day as the Praetorian Fort or the Poecile, stand in ruins. More about this work
About this work
The towering walls of a great enclosure at Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli, known in Piranesi’s day as the Praetorian Fort or the Poecile, stand in ruins. Piranesi etched the view in 1770 for his Vedute di Roma, the series of large views of Rome and its surroundings that he issued over three decades and that shaped how generations of Grand Tour travellers imagined the ancient world. He also studied and surveyed Hadrian’s Villa extensively, and his views combine close observation with a theatrical sense of scale.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of etching on heavy ivory laid paper.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Etching
- The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
- Laid paper
- Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Italian, 1720–1778 · Born in Mogliano Veneto; died in Rome.
Piranesi trained in Venice as an architect and stage designer before moving to Rome in 1740, where he spent the rest of his life. He is known above all for his etchings: the Views of Rome, more than a hundred large plates of ancient ruins and modern buildings, and the Imaginary Prisons, vast fantastical interiors of stairs, arches and machinery. A passionate champion of Roman architecture, he also published archaeological studies and designed the church of Santa Maria del Priorato.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1927.4799
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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