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Giovanni Battista Piranesi, printmaker

Plate 18: Chimneypiece in the Egyptian Style, 1769

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Giovanni Battista Piranesi, 1720-1778, Italian, printmaker

Title

Plate 18: Chimneypiece in the Egyptian Style

Year

1769

Medium

Etching on cream paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • etching

Supports

  • Medium weight cream laid paper

Dimensions

Plate: 24.9 x 38.7 cm (9 13/16 x 15 1/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered LL: "Cavalier Piranesi inv. ed inc.", beneath plate "Camino architettato... iscaldarsi."
Numbered LR: 18.

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Gift of Mr. Elisha C. Durfee

Object Number

63.066.18

About

Chimneypiece with two figures playing harpes to either side of the jambs. From a series of 67 plates.

Lettered LL: "Cavalier Piranesi inv. ed inc.", beneath plate "Camino architettato... iscaldarsi."
Numbered LR: 18.

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Projects & Publications

Publications

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

The Complete Etchings

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

European Galleries

Piranesi created this print as part of a series of designs for ornamenting fireplaces. Artists and artisans used sources like this one to plan projects. In Piranesi’s words, “An artist . . . must not content himself with copying faithfully the ancients, but studying their works he ought to show himself of an inventive, and, I had almost said, of a creating Genius; And by prudently combining the Grecian, the Tuscan, and the Egyptian together, he ought to open himself a road to the finding out of new ornaments and new manners.”

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Plate 18: Chimneypiece in the Egyptian Style with the accession number of 63.066.18. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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