ID: 700009363 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700009363	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1 2

The Round Tower, from 'Carceri d'invenzione' (Imaginary Prisons) (etching (print); Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, Mogliano Veneto 1720–17...; ca. 1749–1750; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; 37.45.3(27); )

Note: The fourteen plates depicting prisons - probably Piranesi's best-known series - were described on their title page as ‘capricious inventions.’ These structures, their immensity emphasized by the low viewpoint and the diminutive figures, derive from stage prisons rather than real ones. Actual prisons in the Italy were tiny dungeons. Spatial anomalies and ambiguities abound in all the images of the series; they were not meant to be logical but to express the vastness and strength that Piranesi experienced in contemplating Roman architecture. About ten years later, Piranesi reworked these plates and added two new images to the series. The reworked plates are even darker and more complex, with added details and inscriptions. While it is hard to find meaning in the first state of the series, the second state includes explicit references to the justice system under the Roman Republic and to the cruelty for which certain emperors were known.

Titles:

The Round Tower, from 'Carceri d'invenzione' (Imaginary Prisons) (preferred,C,U,RD,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

etching (print) [300041365] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>, prints (visual works), <prints by process or technique>, <prints by process: transfer method>, intaglio prints)

Classifications:

prints (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 1749–1750

Creator Display:

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, Mogliano Veneto 1720–1778 Rome); publisher: Giovanni Bouchard (French, ca. 1716–1795) [preferred]

publisher Bouchard, Giovanni (Italian publisher, printer, ca. 1716-1795) [500353817]

printmaker Piranesi, Giovanni Battista (Italian printmaker, architect, 1720-1778) [500114965]

Locations:

Current: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, United States) [500125157] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 37.45.3(27)

Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937

Display Materials: Etching, engraving, sulphur tint or open bite, burnishing

	etching (printing process) [300053241]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <printing and printing processes and techniques>, printing processes, intaglio printing processes)

	engraving (printing process) [300053225]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <printing and printing processes and techniques>, printing processes, intaglio printing processes)

	open biting [300179734]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <image-making processes and techniques>, <printing and printing processes and techniques>, printing techniques, printing surface preparation techniques, biting techniques)

	burnishing (polishing) [300053869]
	.......(Activities Facet, Processes and Techniques (hierarchy name), <processes and techniques by specific type>, <finishing and refinishing processes>, finishing (process), polishing)

Dimensions: Sheet: 24 13/16 x 19 1/2 in. (63 x 49.5 cm); Plate: 21 7/16 x 16 5/16 in. (54.5 x 41.5 cm)

General Subject:

architecture (preferred,description)

Specific Subjects:

	round tower [300101468]
	.....(Objects Facet, Built Environment (hierarchy name), Single Built Works (hierarchy name), single built works (built environment), <single built works by specific type>, <single built works by form>, <single built works by form: massing or shape>, towers (single built works)) (AAT)

	prisons (buildings) [300006460]
	.....(Objects Facet, Built Environment (hierarchy name), Single Built Works (hierarchy name), single built works (built environment), <single built works by specific type>, <single built works by function>, institutional buildings, correctional institutions (buildings)) (AAT)

Provenance: James Franck Bright; Vendor: James Rimell & Son (British)

State: first state of four (Robison)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

..... Conceptual Works

.......... Conceptual Works by class: for movable works

............... Carceri d'Invenzione

.................... Round Tower

Sources and Contributors:
The Round Tower, from 'Carceri d'invenzione' (Imaginary Prisons)	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) accessed 5 March 2018