25. Giovanni Battista Piranesi
(1720-1778)

Carceri XI: The Arch with the Shell Ornament

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Piranesi, Carceri XI: The Arch

Carceri XI: The Arch with the Shell Ornament

Etching with engraving, scratching, etc., ca. 1760, Hind 11 ii/iii, Robison 37 v/vii, 407 x 549 mm. A fine, lifetime impression on laid paper without visible watermark, with full margins and in fresh condition; the usual flattened center fold and a small dot of printer’s ink near the upper edge, right. The plate was first published in the Second Edition, Second Issue of the Carceri in the early to middle 1760s. This impression is from the Second Edition, Third Issue, dating from the middle 1760s to the early 1770s, well before Piranesi’s death and the subsequent posthumous editions. Enough has been written about the brilliantly inventive Carceri that nothing of significance could be added here. They are, simply, among the greatest prints ever made.