Subject
View of the stone pavement of the Via Appia, from “Le Antichità Romane”.
Accession Number. 2012.136.862.2
Prints
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Mogliano Veneto (?) 1720 – 1778 Rome
1756
52 x 38.7 cm
Insciptions
Top left: III. VII / 119
(View of the ancient Via Appia, running under the walls already described in the tables of the Ustrino, now covered by its ruins.
A: Solid street level before applying the filling material (around 7 cm) composed of lime pozzolana and flint chips; the flints are strongly fixed above it.
B: They are cut below in the shape of spearhead.
C: Other flints are put every 2 metres like wedges to press and tighten them.
D: The upper layer was probably used by people riding and getting off their horses and by wayfarers to rest. This part and the lower one are placed over a big infill wall made of flint chips larger than the previous.)
Lower right: Piranesi Archit. dis. inc.
Placement
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (storage)
Credits
The Met Collection
References
John Wilton-Ely Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Complete Etchings. Alan Wofsy, San Francisco, 1994.
MISITI, Maria Cristina; SCALONI, Giovanna (ed.), Giambattista Piranesi: sognare il sogno impossibile, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Roma, 2022, libro multimedia.
