The so-called Grotto of Egeria (Veduta della fonte a delle Spelonche d'Egeria)

Sitting on the periphery of Rome, this building is associated with the meeting place of the nymph Egeria and King Numa Popilius. In the myth, those two met in a different area of Rome, but this structure is still associated with the story and blends a tangible Roman site with early Pagan mythology. The scene Piranesi etched shows the central chamber of the grotto. Appealing to 18th-century Romanticism, Piranesi emphasizes the vegetation enveloping the stone. The living figures and flora of the scene show the timelessness and continuity of Rome as a city while simultaneously displaying a completely different society than what used to occupy the space.

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

Fall Selections: Building a Collection, Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Washington DC, September 01, 2021 - December 17, 2021

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

Piranesi's Rome: Views of the Eternal City (working title), Italian Embassy