He was the son of a stone mason and was trained as an architect. Piranesi was born in Venice in 1720 and died in Rome in 1778. Many of the antiquities shown in Vasi were eventually sold to King Gustav III of Sweden by Piranesi's son, Francesco Piranesi, after his father’s death, and now reside in the National Museum in Stockholm. Piranesi dedicated many of the plates to patrons, colleagues, good customers and influential people. The plates were eventually published together as a set in 1778 in "Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, Tripodi, Lucerne ed Ornamenti Antichi". In 1768 Piranesi began creating etchings depicting these objects. Piranesi began collecting, restoring and selling ancient architectural objects in the 1760's in partnership with Thomas Jenkins and Gavin Hamilton, who had financed numerous excavations in the Pantanello area of Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli. There is a central vertical fold, as issued. The frame measures 28.88" high by 37.25" wide by 1.25" deep. All mounting materials used are archival. It is presented in a brown-colored wood frame and a gray mat. This magnificent etching is printed on heavy laid, chain-linked, deckle edge paper. This Piranesi etching is held by many museums and institutions, including: The Metropolitan Museum, The British Museum, The National Gallery of Art, The Harvard Museum of Art, and The Portland Art Museum. Piranesi's name appears in the lower margin on the right. The peaceful scene is in sharp contrast to the earlier violent battles of the gladiators in this very same spot. Some of these individuals are in casual conversation, like the two men adjacent to the stone slab in the lower left, which contains the title of the piece, one leaning against the structure. People, some ordinary Romans and others possibly tourists on the Grand Tour, wander about the grounds. The casual neglect and disrespect of the local Romans for the Colosseum is further communicated by Piranesi when he includes scenes of animals grazing within the building, fallen blocks of stone laying on the ground and vegetation growing out of portions of the structure. Piranesi chose to jar our senses by selecting a perspective of the Colosseum's interior which places structures in the foreground, like the column of stone in the center and the tall overgrown structure on the right, that disrupt the pleasing symmetrical order of the small archways on the far right. This situation was a motivating factor for him to document the appearance of Rome's ancient architecture with his etchings, before there was further deterioration of these magnificent structures. The way Piranesi chose to illustrate the state of disrepair of the architecture of this wonderful and historically important ancient structure in a way reflects his concern for the decay of many of Rome's monuments and landmarks. This etching depicts the interior of the famous ancient Roman colosseum. This large framed 18th century etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi entitled "Veduta dell'interno dell'Anfiteatro Flavio detto il Colosseo" (View of the interior of the Flavian Amphitheater known as the Colosseum), was published in Rome in 1766 in Piranesi's monumental work 'Vedute di Roma' (Views of Rome).
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