View through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii
Medium
Pen and brown ink over black chalk
Dimensions
11 x 16 3/4 in. (28 x 42.5 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Robert Lehman Collection
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number
1975.1.400
Tags
Art Historical Context
Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s *View through the Herculaneum Gate, Pompeii* captures a striking glimpse of the ancient city’s entrance, rendered in pen and brown ink over black chalk. Created in 1778, the drawing reflects the growing European fascination with classical antiquity during the late eighteenth century. Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE and only recently unearthed in the 1740s, had become a vital site for artists and scholars eager to study Roman architecture and daily life. Piranesi, renowned for his meticulous architectural views, brings a sense of depth and atmo...
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...