# View of the Lateran Basilica [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Etching, 489 x 708 mm ## Commentary This is an ideal equivalent to the view with St Peter's and the Vatican, in the splendour of its urban setting. This late panel from the Vedute series reveals the way in which the Lateran building seemed, even in the 18th century, the destination of a path that was not very frequently on the usual tourist trail, the final step in a traditional pilgrimage only followed on festive days, but mainly isolated on the margins of the Aurelian Walls. An antithesis to the monumental and modern vision of the Lateran Basilica, as offered by Piranesi on many other occasions, the view isolates the architecture - transformed by a radical urban intervention under Sixtus V - in an open space. ## Related artworks - [Carceri d'Invenzione]() - [Carceri d'Invenzione]() - [Diverse Maniere d'adornare i Cammini]() - [Exterior view]() - [Frontispiece]() - [Interior view]() - [Palazzo Barberini, Rome]() - [Porto di Ripetta]() - [Prisoners on a Projecting Platform]() - [Round Tower]() - [Ruins of the Antonine Baths]() - [Ruins of the Temple of Minerva]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()