![]() He changed the way people thought about documenting these objects, these monuments. “He transformed the way people thought about these things before that,” Dodds said. “He exaggerated the scale of things because he was trying to create the experience of the sublime, which was very much a part of the picturesque, which he was living in at the time,” Dodds said.Īfter Piranesi, other architects attempted to copy his unique style but did a poor job mimicking the work of the “genius,” Dodds said. He was intent on redefining the norms of perspective, and his unique interpretation and warping of such perspective distinguished him from other artists, while simultaneously extending the experience of melancholia that often defined the 18th century. Piranesi was particularly focused on preserving damaged artifacts and monuments through recreating such entities in his artistic work, and he often built small cork models of subjects in order to draw them with an aerial perspective. “We think of melancholy today as something that needs to be corrected through pharmaceuticals and talk therapy, but back in the 18th century it was something that people actually sought out, that idea of melancholia.” “It was the picturesque movement and sublimity, the experience of melancholy, which ruins were a part of … creating that kind of sublime moment,” Dodds said. The artist lived in the age of melancholia, where ruins were romanticized and often the subject of artistic works, as Roman artists set out to prove that Rome was the artistic center of the world, rather than Greece. I suspect his home life was less than lovely.” Like any genius who creates a world unto themselves, there’s a lot of wreckage from that. “He was a little crazy - some would say a lot crazy, and he was a genius, and he created a world unto himself. A prolific creator, he produced more than 1,028 copper plates in his short lifetime, as well as sold prints, either as singular copies or bound in books. Piranesi, who lived from 1720 to 1778, owned a print shop below his home, where he engraved incredibly detailed drawings on copper plates, a medium which does not easily lend itself to the intricacy that Piranesi mastered. 20, aims to teach architecture students about innovative architectural drawing through the work of Piranesi, an 18th century Italian architect, artist and theorist whose work redefining perspective forever solidified him in architectural fame.Īlvin and Sally Beaman Professor of Architecture George Dodds, who has been teaching at UTK since 2000, curated the exhibit, and all but one of the Piranesi works featured hail from Dodds’ personal collection. “Learning from Piranesi: Architectural Representation and Tectonics: An Exhibition Celebrating the 300th Birth Anniversary of Giovanni Battista Piranesi,” an exhibit opening at the Ewing Gallery at UTK on Jan. Today, Giovanni Battista Piranesi continues to influence architectural work - and may even play a crucial role in reckoning with modern changes in architectural understanding. Piranesi saw his imaginative structures as a way to argue for the superiority of ancient Rome over all other architectural eras and restore Rome to its former glory.Nearly 300 years ago, one Veneto-born architect radically transformed interpretation of ruins, melancholia and architecture. Piranesi did not draw entirely from the caprices of his imagination, however, but often manipulated real landscapes, represented unreal structures based on existing architecture, or drew from his experience with set design in the theater. The awe-inspiring nature of Piranesi’s sublime structures aided in attracting travelers to the Grand Tour, a pilgrimage to see famous classical antiquities in person popular among 18th-century European intellectuals. Through fantastical sweeping vistas and soaring spaces, Piranesi sought to create an affective experience that would strike awe and admiration into antiquarians and intellectuals around Europe. Piranesi, a printmaker, architect, and antiquarian, produced thousands of printed books and participated in archaeological excavations. Piranesi: Architecture of the Imagination, a selection of etchings by Venetian-born printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s collection is currently on view in the Ridley-Tree Gallery. ![]()
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