PIRANESI VEDUTA DEL PONTE LUGANO 

SU L'ANTONE ROME ENGRAVING.

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI (1720-1778).

SIGNED PIRANESI F (LOWER RIGHT)

C.1763 ORIGINAL.

FIRST STATE OF IV.

IMAGE: 17 5/8" x 25 5/8"

OVERALL: 23 1/2" x 31 1/2" (IN FRAME)

EXCELLENT ANTIQUE CONDITION.

LIGHT CENTER FOLD.

Translated: 

View of the Ponte Lugano with the Tomb

of the Plautii, Rome.

Full title in lower right cartouche described

in detail of last picture.

Last three pictures are of one in the collection of

the Metropolitan Museum of Art (not on display).

Yale University Art Gallery and lastly one that is 

for sale which puts forth a thorough description.

This was sold/framed at Louis Katz Art Galleries

308 Columbus Avenue New York City who were

at that location around 1911-1915.

This black oak frame is original but overall mounting 

required updating. 

We have had TruView Museum Glass installed.

Replaced the original cracked gold wood fillet

with a new similar wood one and had conservation 

acid free backing board replace the three wood 

backing panels which allowed the framer to even 

the piece nicely.

Hard to capture how nice this is in pictures.

Very nice antique condition as shown. 

The blueish brightness you see on the lower right 

is reflection from the windows in the room.

Cheers : )

Piranesi Background: It is important to look at his contribution as an archaeologist, which was acknowledged at the time as he had been elected to the Society of Antiquaries of London.His influence of technical drawings in antiquarian publications is often overshadowed. He left explanatory notes in the lower margin about the structure and ornament. Most ancient monuments in Rome were abandoned in fields and gardens. Piranesi tried to preserve them with his engravings. To do this, Piranesi pushed himself to achieve realism in his work. A third of the monuments in Piranesi's engravings have disappeared, and the stucco and surfacings were often stolen, or restored and modified clumsily. Piranesi's precise observational skills allow people to experience the atmosphere in Rome in the eighteenth century. Piranesi may have recognised his role of disseminating remarkable information through meaningful images. He became the Director of the Portici Museum in 1751.