Giovanni Battista Piranesi

Trained as an architect, Giovanni Battista Piranesi became the eighteenth century’s most celebrated printmaker of ancient Rome. His dramatic views are grounded in careful archaeological observation. The lettered key beneath this image identifies surviving elements of the Colosseum’s original design, including the stone brackets [G] and interrupted cornice [H] that once supported the masts of the vast velarium – a retractable canvas awning used during the amphitheatre’s centuries as a venue for public spectacles. Piranesi encouraged his buyers to look beyond the ruin, reading its surviving fabric as evidence of the remarkable engineering that once animated the building.

(Timeless: Treasures from the Historical Collection 19 September 2026 –30 May 2027)