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Giovanni Battista Piranesi — View of the Grand Cascade at Tivoli, from Views of Rome
Giovanni Battista Piranesi

View of the Grand Cascade at Tivoli, from Views of Rome

1766

Giovanni Battista Piranesi had supplied decades of tourists with his massive, masterly etchings of architectural monuments in Rome and its environs by the time he completed his Views of Rome series in the late 1770s. The waterfall pictured here, in the ancient town of Tivoli, was a natural wonder, and the 16th-century Villa d’Este nearby channeled the same waterpower into a flamboyantly artificial series of fountains, automata (mechanical toys moved by water), and strategic cascades. Both were must-sees for Europeans on their Grand Tours.

Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions

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Spotted works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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Giovanni Battista Piranesi, View of the Grand Cascade at Tivoli, from Views of Rome, 1766

Giovanni Battista Piranesi had supplied decades of tourists with his massive, masterly etchings of architectural monuments in Rome and its environs by the time he completed his Views of Rome series in the late 1770s. The waterfall pictured here, in the ancient town of Tivoli, was a natural wonder, and the 16th-century Villa d’Este nearby channeled the same waterpower into a flamboyantly artificial series of fountains, automata (mechanical toys moved by water), and strategic cascades. Both were must-sees for Europeans on their Grand Tours.

Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
47.1 x 70.2 cm
Year
1766
Seen at
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

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Print, Works on Paper

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Art Institute of Chicago