View of the Temple of Bacchus, now the church of S. Urbano, two miles distant from Rome, beyond the Porta S. Sebastiano, from Views of Rome
1750/59
Medium
Etching on heavy ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 38.5 × 61.6 cm (15 3/16 × 24 5/16 in.); Plate: 40.8 × 62.3 cm (16 1/8 × 24 9/16 in.); Sheet: 55.5 × 78.5 cm (21 7/8 × 30 15/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
64577
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The temple depicted in this etching was built in the 2nd century A.D. by the Greek aristocrat Herodes Atticus and originally dedicated to the fertility goddess Ceres. During the 9th century, it was converted into a Christian church to honor Saint Urban, a 3rd-century pope. By the time Giovanni Battista Piranesi drew it, the temple had withstood various centuries of abandonment before being restored in 1634. In the print, part of an enclosing wall is visible on the side of the temple. This wall h...
About the Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi · 1720–1778
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778) was an Italian printmaker, architect, and antiquarian whose visionary etchings of Rome and imaginary prisons revolutionized architectural representation and profoundly influenced both Neoclassicism and Romanticism. Piranesi stands as one of the most important printmakers of the eighteenth century, fundamentally shaping European perceptions of ancient Rome an...