Piranesi’s 'Prisons' and the 'Etruscan Question' in 18th-century Venice. The British Museum. An Etruscan affair: the impact of early Etruscan discoveries on European culture. Fri 29 May & Sat 30 May 2015. (original) (raw)

Abstract

In 1761 Piranesi published his polemical treatise Della magnificenza ed Architettura de’Romani, in which he argued that the art and architecture of ancient Rome derived their sound principles from the Etruscans. In the same year Piranesi reworked his Prisons series of prints – not due to public interest, but rather, because it supported the thesis of his book with a vision of 'Etruscan' architecture. The very subject reflects Etruscan identity rather than an interest in law and punishment – prison is a conventional subject for compositions in the Tuscan/Rustic order. In his vision of Etruscan/Roman architectural genius Piranesi followed especially the architect Tommaso Temanza (whom he knew well while in Venice) and his Galilean approach to architectural construction and history. Temanza had given preference to arches over straight architraves built in stone, while attributing the invention of the arch to the Romans taught by the Etruscans.

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