Artwork Information

Nowhere was Piranesi more theatrical than in his remarkable depictions of prisons. Gloomy caverns open onto a warren of tunnels, arches, bridges, and vast buttresses, criss-crossed by great ropes and chains, suggesting grim tortures. They influenced stage designers in the latter part of the 18th century, as well as the romantic movement in the 19th century. Théophile Gautier wanted to stage Hamlet in such a setting, while Thomas de Quincey compared them to his own drug-induced deliriums.