“Carceri d’invenzione di G. Battista Piranesi archit. vene. – Imaginary Prisons of G. Battista Piranesi, Venetian Architect”
Carceri XV: The Pier with a Lamp
Design of a prison, sheet No. XV. Round arches spring from a square column, decorated with monstrous heads of giants with thick rings in their mouths. A masterly interplay of light and shadow with some scattered silhouettes of people throughout this gruesome prison scene.
Copper engraving and etching by G.B. Piranesi (1720-1778), second state of the Roman edition, c. 1761. This edition was expanded by two new designs and had a reworking of the engraving by Piranesi. The Roman numbering was added in the upper left. Signed at the bottom left: Piranesi F.
Sheet: 54,8 x 74,6 cm, Print size: 41,6 x 55,6 cm
Strong and high in contrast print on heavy paper, wide margins, smoothed centrefold (common), very good condition.
Lit.: Arthur Hind, Reprint 1968, Piranesi – Carceri, catalogue of the Prisons, p. 25-29, H 15 II (III) ; Taschen 124.
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