Piranesi, Giovanni Battista

or Giambattista Piranesi

(born Oct. 4, 1720, Mestre, near Venice—died Nov. 9, 1778, Rome, Papal States) Italian draftsman, printmaker, architect, and art theorist. He went to Rome at 20 as a draftsman for the Venetian ambassador. After settling there in 1747, he developed a highly original etching technique that produced rich textures and bold contrasts of light and shadow. His many prints of Classical and post-Classical Roman structures contributed to the growth of Classical archaeology and the Neoclassical art movement. He is best known today for his extraordinary series of imaginary prisons (Carceri d'invenzione, 1745). His prints are among the most impressive architectural representations in Western art.

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