etching technique
Giovanni Battista Piranesi Giovanni Battista Piranesi, born in 1720, was truly inspired by Ancient Roman architecture. Giovanni moved from Venice to Rome to continue his work in etchings, at the age of 20. Piranesi studied architecture, engineering and stage design. He was the son of a stonemason and builder, and first studied drawing with his uncle who was an engineer. Piranesi found in it an outlet for all his interests, from designing fantastic complexes of buildings that could exist only in dreams. Giovanni was considered one of the greatest printmakers of the eighteenth century. Piranesi also received a thorough background in perspective construction and stage design, he considered himself as an architect.The Round Tower from 'Carceri D'invenzione' (Imaginary Prisons), 1749–1750 captured Giovanni’s eye. These etchings were issued as a collection of fourteen, but he reworked the series significantly as a set of sixteen in 1761. The fourteen plates ...