Veduta della Basilica e Piazza di S. Pietro in Vaticano (St. Peter's, with Piazza and Colonnade), from Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome)
c. 1746-1748
18th Century
15 1/2 x 21 in. (39.4 x 53.3 cm)
Giovanni Battista Piranesi,
Italian,
(1720–1778)
Object Type:
PRINTS
Creation Place:
Europe, Italy
Medium and Support:
Etching, engraving
Accession Number:
74-G-486
This image is the last and one of the most famous of several prints Piranesi made of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is a remarkably rendered bird’s-eye view of St. Peter’s church and the enormous elliptical piazza that stretches out before it. By distorting the scale and perspective of the square and the colonnade that defines it, Piranesi conveys Bernini’s intention for the space to enclose the visitor within “the material arms of Mother Church.”
Current Location:
In Storage
by Artist
by Artist
