Prison Scene
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 15 1/4 × 21 15/16 in. (38.7 × 55.7 cm) Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 16 3/16 × 22 5/8 in. (41.1 × 57.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1962
Accession Number
62.602.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the shadowy depths of Giovanni Battista Pir's *Prison Scene*, a captivating etching from his renowned *Carceri d'invenzione* (Imag Prisons) series, created in collaboration with his son Francesco. This undated work, measuring an imposing 15¼ × 21⅞ inches, exemplifies Piranesi's mastery of etching—a meticulous printmaking technique where acid etches intricate lines into a metal plate allowing for dramatic contrasts and endless reproducibility. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, was acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1962. Piranesi, an 18th-cen...