{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1800240"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1800240/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG0123/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PG0123/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PG0123","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1800240/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1800240","accessionNumber":"E.53:14-2025","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"On the Grandeur and the Architecture of the Romans","type":"series title"},{"title":"De Romanorum Magnificentia et Architectura","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"This is a volume of etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, originally published in two separate series, <i>On the Grandeur and the Architecture of the Romans by Gio. Battista Piranesi, Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London</i> (Rome, 1761) and <i>Observations of Giovanni Battista Piranesi on the letter of M. Mariette to the authors of the Gazette Littéraire de l'Europe, included in the Supplement of the same Gazette printed Sunday, 4 November 1754 [1764] </i>(Rome, 1765). \n\r\nOn the internal bound of the volumes is an old pen inscription ‘P. Wicksteed 1769’. The watermark found on the sheets connects the production of the etchings with Rome (1760s-80s). The double text in Italian and Latin is present in the early editions of Piranesi’s albums (ante 1783), while it does not appear in the Tessier edition (First Paris Edition) produced by his sons Francesco and Pietro (1800-1807). For a complete set of prints from the First Paris Edition see accession numbers: E. 4267-4312-1908. The copper plates are in the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome. \n\r\nThe production of particularly lavish books by Piranesi during the 1760s is closely bound up with the patronage and enthusiastic support of the Venetian Pope Clement XIII, to whom he dedicated this and several other works. \n\r\nIn<i> On the Grandeur and the Architecture of the Romans</i> (Della Magnificenza ed Architettura de' Romani, Opera di Gio. Battista Piranesi, socio della reale academia degli antiquari di Londra) Piranesi rested his main defence on the Etruscans as being not only an older and more gifted race than the Greeks but also the first instructors of the Romans. The unadorned simplicity of the Etruscans' stone architecture and their engineering achievements are shown to be the origins of Roman grandeur.\n\r\nIn 1764 the French critic Mariette had attacked Piranesi’s theories as expressed with an article in the Gazette Littéraire de l’Europe. Rejecting the claims of the Etruscans’ originality on the grounds that they had been Greek colonists, Mariette considered that all Roman art derived from that of Greece; having been carried out in Rome by Greek slaves, it underwent a decline. \n\r\nPiranesi's rejoinder was a 1765 publication involving three separate elements. In the <i>Observations</i> (Osservazioni di Gio. Battista Piranesi sopra la lettre de M. Mariette aux auteurs de la Gazette Littéraire de l'Europe, Inserita nel Supplemento dell'stessa Gazzetta stampata Dimanche 4 Novembre MCCLIV. E Parere su l' Architettura, con una Prefazione ad un nuovo Trattato della introduzione e del progresso delle belle arti in Europa ne' tempi antichi)  he repeated the principal arguments of <i>Della Magnificenza</i>, refuting Mariette virtually sentence by sentence. The second element of this publication, the<i> Parere su l' Architettura</i>, is undoubtedly one of his most significant works, particularly as it establishes for the first time a theoretical basis for his artistic inclinations towards complexity rather than Attic simplicity. \n\nAs Wilton-Ely noted, although the final element of the publication of 1765 was ambitiously entitled <i>Trattato della introduzione e del progresso delle belle arti in Europa ne' tempi antichi</i>, in it Piranesi merely restates his thesis on the originality of Italy over Greece. \r\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Giovanni Battista Piranesi","id":"A8740"},"association":{"text":"print-maker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Piranesi, Giovanni Battista","id":"A8740"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"etching (printing process)","id":"AAT53241"},{"text":"engraving (printing process)","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Etching with engraving, ink on paper","categories":[],"styles":[{"text":"Italian","id":"AAT111198"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PG0123"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"MB8R","shelf":"3","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"prints","id":"AAT41273"}],[{"text":"etchings","id":"AAT41365"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Rome","id":"x29106"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1761-1765","earliest":"1761-01-01","latest":"1765-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":"circa"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Caroline Sterling in memory of J.A.L. Sterling","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"61","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"volume","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"46.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"volume","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"7.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"volume","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"These three albums were purchased by J.A.L. (Adrian) Sterling from Christie’s in 1969. All three came from the collection of the Earl of Dunraven (property of The Dunraven Limerick Estates Company) from the library at Adare Manor, the Dunraven family property in Adare, Limerick, Ireland, until it was sold in 1982 (and is now a hotel). They have remained in the collection of Adrian and Caroline Sterling since 1969. ","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print from <i>De Romanorum Magnificentia et Architectura (On the Grandeur and the Architecture of the Romans)</i>, etching with engraving, by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Rome, 1761","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"John Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The Complete Etchings, 2 vols., 1st ed., San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1994","id":"AUTH405198"},"details":"pp. 820-821","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Wyndham-Quin, Windham Thomas 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl","id":"N12042"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.53:14-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"53","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Rome – matrix inventory number","id":"THES403866"},"number":""}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-20","recordCreationDate":"2025-03-14","availableToBook":false}}