Download Piranesi as an architect, theorist and polemicist

le Arti di Piranesi
architetto, incisore, antiquario, vedutista, designer
Piranesi as an architect, theorist and polemicist
Piranesi’s great ambition was to reform contemporary architecture according to the methods and
models of the ancient Romans. Apart from interior decorations and the remodelling of the church of
Santa Maria del Priorato, he was never actually able to put his theories into practice. In his career as
an architect he turned, therefore, to etching imaginary buildings and to making prints illustrating the
techniques used by the ancients, so that modern architects could freely learn from them.
Piranesi’s studies brought him into contact with the Accademia di Francia, one of the liveliest
artistic centres in 18th-century Rome.
Later, he was also to frequent British architects like William Chambers and Robert Adam.
The authoritative arguments put forward by leading theorists such as Caylus, Le Roy, Laugier and
Winckelmann that Greek art was superior to Roman art drove Piranesi to plan a large work as a
rejoinder. His aim was to document the originality of Roman architecture and show its roots in
Etruscan art.
The result was the publication in 1761 of Della Magnificenza ed Architettura de’ Romani and, in
1766, of Osservazioni sopra la Lettre de M. Mariette, a polemical reply to the French critic who
had rejected Piranesi's “claims”.