03 — ARTWORK
Round Tower
PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista · 1750 →
- MEDIUM
- Etching, 1st state of 6, 556 x 418 mm
- TYPE
- Other
PALETTE
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THIS REPRODUCTION
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CURRENT LOCATION · The Hermitage
- FILE
- 732 × 959 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
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Round Tower 1749-50 Etching, 1st state of 6, 556 x 418 mm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg
This print is sheet 3 of the series "Prisons".
In comparison with the first prison designs, which also appeared in the 18th century, Piranesi's imaginary constructions are striking for their irrationality. A keen scholar of ancient architecture, he invests them with fine proportions, yet more convincingly depicts chaos, something that still repelled his contemporaries but would soon become attractive to the Romantics - artists and naturalists.
OTHER WORKS BY GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-re0ecc89b2f6327,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Round Tower by PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/piranesi-giovanni-battista-rf1bb0a837c170f/round-tower-re0ecc89b2f6327},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.