One of Piranesi’s most revered series, the “Carceri d’Invenzione,” often translated as ‘Imaginary Prisons,’ was comprised of fourteen, and later sixteen, engravings published over two editions from 1750 to 1761. Piranesi added two new panes, increased contrast, and expanded upon once obscure details for the second edition, published in 1761. The changes amplified a darker, more Kafkaesque theme not present in the first edition. The newly added second pane, titled "The Man on the Rack," illustrates a man in the throws of brutal exploitation and torture at the hands of complex machines housed in an even more confusing structure.[1] This specific edition is often speculated to serve as a commentary by Piranesi on Italian crime and punishment. However, the entire series might be examined this way, too, perhaps not as physical prisons exhibiting physical means of torture but rather as imaginary prisons featuring psychological mechanisms of torture.[2]
Piranesi’s “Carceri d’Invenzione” remains one of his most acclaimed works, an iconic series embodying imprisonment and the resulting physical or psychological anguish. They connect with their viewer and conduct a robust and absolute narrative, unlike any other engraved work.
1. Paul Jamieson, “Musset, de Quincey, and Piranesi,” Modern Language Notes 71, no. 2 (1956): 105–8.
2. Paul Jamieson, “Musset, de Quincey, and Piranesi,” 105–8.