Artwork Information

Piranesi exaggerates the interior of the Basilica with his use of perspective, suggesting the effects of recession by using finer lines to depict objects in the distance. He experimented with lines of varying thickness, breaking and undulating them to create a tangible sense of different building materials, while also indicating the natural light falling from the clerestory window and the aisles. Piranesi's largest prints are similar in scale to the maps and views printed by his first master in Rome, the Sicilian engraver Guiseppe Vasi, who was famous for producing a birds' eye view of the city.