Giovanni Battista Piranesi was een Italiaanse graficus, die bekend werd door zijn stadsgezichten van Rome, gravuren en etsen van imaginaire kerkers.
Piranesi hield zich ook bezig met archeologie en huldigde daarbij denkbeelden die tegenwoordig niet meer worden aangehangen.
Geboren: 4 oktober 1720, Venetië
Overleden: 9 november 1778, Rome

Het hier geboden boek bezit een tekst in drie talen:
Engelse, Duitse en Franse

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'Giovanni Battista Piranesi was first and foremost an architect, although he disposed over a vast repertoire of
exceptional skills in various technical fields and arts. A master draftsman of both imaginary and real subjects, as well as of architecture and stage design, Piranesi was als expert in the theory and practice of enigineering
and geometry. In addition, he was an extraordinary etcher. But het was convinced that it was only through architecture that he could exploit all this talents and revolutionize the world, that is, the manner and places in which people lived. To realize his ambition, he moved tot Rome, the city that became the focus of his artistic
work. For Piranesi, living amidst the remains of ancient Rome was the equivalent of dwelling sat the center of civilization. He devoted himself to the rebuilding of modern Rome, which he felt had become degraded, cor-
rupt, frivolous, and unworthy of its past. His goal was nothing less than the restoration of the Eternal City tom the magnificence of its ancient splendor - a dream of unheard- of dimensions for its age. (...)'.