Help with Giovanni Battista Piranesi etching
Hello,
I recently purchased an etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi and would like to know if it's real, reproduction, age, etc. Basically, I have no information on the piece, except that it looks authentic - old, but not certain if it's been done by the artist himself or perhaps a later reproduction.
If anyone has any information or resource they can share to give me little be more insight into this work, it would be great.
Thank you in advance,
IM
13 comments
mangalia70
·2 years agoit's a lithograph in my opinion . An original from 1700;s must have an Watermark looking at the paper against the strong light . Fleur de Lis
sonomabarn67
·2 years agoI'm looking at the recent pics and all of a sudden the paper does not look right for an 18th c. product. Maybe it's an over-magnified presentation but like I said "without having it in hand", a question remains. These boards are great for triage but not always for a final determination. That is what an in-hand look-see is all about.
On the strip shown on the reverse, that may be an attempted correction of trying to solidify the crease and flatten it.
sonomabarn67
·2 years agoFrom what I'm seeing it should be a cream-wove paper and it appears to be a 19th c product. A reproduction of some sort.
maxine*j
·2 years agoAh, that makes sense. I kept seeing it as two sheets of paper tacked together, but now I see it for what it is.
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dwllstudio
OP2 years agoThank you for your responses, here is an answer to some of your questions:
+ The size of the image measures to 27.5" x 21"
+ It doesn't seem to be two pieces, it looks like a fold on the face of the image. On a back it is a wooden thin dowel that is glued to the print, don't know why.
melda58
·2 years agoI'm not seeing any plate marks (indentations surrounding the image) so that says it isn't an etching. And it doesn't look like an engraving either. So a reproduction most likely and as Maxine suggested, perhaps for a book.
Rita
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThe original was a single sheet. Another in the series
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/360270
melda58
·2 years agoI found this one online and it's described as an engraving, not an etching. Here is a link with specs below on an original (supposedly) - compare the measurements to yours.
https://theantiquarium.com/products/veduta-dell-arco-di-costantino-e-dell-anfiteatro-flavio-detto-il-colosseo-piranesi-1760
Rita
maxine*j
·2 years agoThat's interesting. The Library of Congress has it as an etching, sized 52.6 cm x 74.3 cm:
https://www.loc.gov/item/2009633840/
But I am out of my depth here.
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sonomabarn67
·2 years agoPaper looks good, printed image looks good but without having it in hand I can't give it my blessing. I have a number of these that belonged to my dad, an etcher.
maxine*j
·2 years agoWas it standard for them to be in two pieces, with text printed on one half? I ask because I do not know. Or am I seeing this wrong?
maxine*j
·2 years agoIs the image in two pieces, as it appears to be? If so, it was probably a book illustration spanning two pages. The nature of the printed text makes me think the same.
If not, what is the size? All of the originals I find (at Library of Congress and elsewhere) are approximately 21" x 28".
Have you looked at it with a loupe? What do you see? For example: Do you see dots of any kind? Are they regular or irregular? Do you see a stippled pattern? Just what do you see?
This is a famous image, with many examples and info on the web if you search for Veduta dell' arco di Costantino, e dell' anfiteatro Flavio detto il colosseo (View of the Arch of Constantine and the Flavian Amphitheatre, called the Colosseum) from the series Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome and Environs).
So, give us some more info so we can help.
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dwllstudio
OP2 years agoThank you for your response, please see my answer to your questions below with few additional images.