Title: The serpent and the stylus : essays on G.B. Piranesi /
Authors: Bevilacqua, Mario, 1960-; Minor, Heather Hyde, 1971-; Barry, Fabio
Publisher: Published for the American Academy in Rome by the University of Michigan Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Piranesi, Giovanni Battista,; Neoclassicism (Art) Italy.; Artists Italy.
Abstract: Piranesi was an architect, engraver, antiquities restorer and dealer, draftsman, archaeologist, furniture and fireplace designer, author, and bookseller. His creations in paper and in stone garnered considerable renown in his own lifetime, allowing him to transform himself from a penniless son of a stonemason to a wealthy entrepreneur. However, despite attempts to catalogue and analyze his work, little is known about Piranesi. Since Henri Focillon published his monograph on the artist in 1918, scholars have sought to expand his interpretive strategies used to examine Piranesi and his work. This volume is a representative sampling of the contemporary scholarship on Piranesi, with each essay scrutinizing a particular aspect of his oeuvre. By engaging with material found in eighteenth-century manuscripts and printed materials, as well as the texts and images Piranesi produced, the nine essays by esteemed contributors add to the rapidly growing and diversifying field of eighteenth-century studies. The outcome is a volume that will add to the expanding, glittering mosaic of Piranesi's life and his work.
Contents: The young Piranesi: the itineraries of his formation / Mario Bevilacqua -- Picturesque to sublime: Piranesi's stylistic and technical development from 1740 to 1761 / Myra Nan Rosenfeld -- A first collection of the Vedute di Roma: some new elements on the states / Roberta Battaglia -- Engraved in porphyry, printed on paper: Piranesi and Lord Charlemont / Heather Hyde Minor -- Pierre Jean Mariette and Piranesi: the controversy reconsidered / Lola Kantor-Kazovsky / Piranesi architect, courtier, and antiquarian: the late Rezzonico Years (1762-1768) / Susanna Pasquali -- Architecture and history: Vico, Lodoli, Piranesi / Gian Paolo Consoli -- "Amazing and ingenious fancies": Piranesi and the Adam Brothers / John Wilton-Ely -- Piranesi's poetic license: his influence on modern Italian architecture / Terry Kirk.