ONLINE PROGRAM THROUGH ZOOM

An Inventive and Creating Genius: Drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi

John Marciari, curatorial chair, Morgan Library & Museum

Although best known as a printmaker—especially for his views of Rome and his Imaginary Prisons—Piranesi was a designer, architect, archaeologist, dealer, theorist, and polemicist. He was also an accomplished and versatile draftsman, and in all his endeavors developed his ideas through vigorous drawings. This lecture will preview John Marciari’s upcoming exhibition and publication dedicated to Piranesi’s work as a draftsman, using Piranesi’s drawings to survey the artist’s career, to show the workings of his studio, and to demonstrate his perpetual use of relics and motifs from the past in designing prints, buildings, and objects that continue to fascinate us today.

$15 door fee for guests and subscribers (no fee for members)