View of the Remains of the Tomb of the Plautii on the Via Tiburtina Near the Ponte Lugano Two Miles from Tivoli (Veduta degl’avanzi del sepolcro della famiglia Plauzia sulla via Tiburtina vicino al ponte Lugano due miglia lontano da Tivoli)

The Plautii were a flourishing Plebeian Family during the end of the Roman Republic and throughout the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Since Roman citizens couldn’t be buried within Rome, the well-traveled roads leading to Rome, like the Via Turbina, were common burial sites for prominent families. The mausoleum is impossibly grand, with the bottom stone layer standing taller than the weathered man next to it. The dramatization of an already colossal structure reflects Piranesi’s mindset. He acknowledges Rome’s legacy with the commotion surrounding the tomb, but like the broken stone, the figures in the etching appear to be the results of a broken society. A beggar, a wanderer, a mother without a husband, and a son without a father.

Arthur M. Hind (Author), Giovanni Battista Piranesi: A Critical Study, with a List of His Published Works and Detailed Catalogues of the Prisons and the Views of Rome, Da Capo Press, New York, 1967, ©1922

Henri Focillon (Author), Giovanni-Battista Piranesi: Essai de Catalogue Raisonné de Son Oeuvre, Librairie Renouard, Henri Laurens, Paris, 1918

Piranesi's Rome: Views of the Eternal City, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Olivia Kohler-Maga, September 04, 2024 - December 07, 2024