New Work by Giambattista Piranesi (1720–1778) by Adam Lowe

Art in Print May – June 2011

Messing About with Masterpieces: New Work by Giambattista Piranesi (1720–1778) By Adam Lowe

Fig 3c. Detail of cast marble Chimneypiece, after Piranesi, 2010, cast white marble scagliola.

‘I have need of great ideas, and at Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice high candelabra, massive vases, Graeco- I believe that if I were commanded to argued for a new view of the artist as a Roman altars—whose designs had ap- design a new universe, I should have multi-tasking globalist in tune with 21st peared in Piranesi’s publications of the the folly to undertake such a thing.’ century technological adventurism. Con- 1760s and 1770s, but which had only now — Giambattista Piranesi ceived by architect and designer Michele been given three-dimensional form. de Lucchi, the exhibition offered a variety Piranesi’s achievements as a designer he 18th century printmaker Giam- of avenues that bring Piranesi into our and architect are less generally known T battista Piranesi is best known for time: a full-scale facsimile of the Caffe than his other work, but it was here that his views of Rome (Vedute di Roma), those degli Inglesi, the Roman coffee shop deco- the antiquarian romance of the Views beautifully observed, deeply Romantic rated by Piranesi, and a digital anima- and the free improvisation of the Prisons evocations of decrepit grandeur, and for tion that allows the viewer to slide (virtu- joined forces. In two publications1 chock- his loose and labyrinthine invented pris- ally) through the dense and contradictory a-block with original creations and clas- ons, the Carceri. Both have been hall- spaces of the Carceri. The most provoca- sical reinterpretations of chimneypieces, marks of refined, if slightly dusty, interiors tive items on display, however, were the chairs, candlesticks and coffee pots, Pira- for two centuries, but a recent exhibition elaborate decorative objects—two-meter nesi set forth a design philosophy based

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antiquarian activist slogan: “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the pres- ervation of fire,” and is intrigued by the potential of contemporary technologies to restore to cultural artefacts their ‘sense’ “(both the ‘meaning’ and the ‘sensuous experience.’)” Factum Arte supplied the technological sophistication and material connoisseurship to effect the transforma- tion of 200 year-old etched lines on paper into stone, silver and gold-plated bronze. Below, Factum Arte Director Adam Lowe describes the thinking and the processes that went into the production of these objects, and their implications for the way we treat the gifts of past and of the present. –ST

ORIGINALITY AS A PROCESS The Piranesi Collection Fig 3d. Detail of stereolithographic resin model of a Chimneypiece, after Piranesi, 2010. reating new objects from Pira- C nesi’s designs means treating our on eclecticism and the fecundity of both everyone knows the facsimile is not the cultural heritage as a living and dynam- man and nature, a position in direct op- ‘real thing,’ it is visually indistinguishable ic sourcebook. The objects discussed position to the trend of neo-classical re- from the real thing and, unlike the real here are not copies of existing artifacts straint then overtaking the continent. In thing, it is hung in the location for which but interpretations of Piranesi’s designs the years after Piranesi’s death the fas- it was designed. It can be argued that the ‘performed’ for the first time. The start- tidious “Greek” rigor advocated by Johann facsimile provides an experience closer to ing point was Piranesi’s own approach Joachim Winckelmann and given form Veronese’s vision than that currently of- to antiquity and to design, especially by Antonio Canova and John Flaxman fered by the heavily restored canvas in the his emphasis on a speculative and un- carried the day, while Piranesi’s eccentric Louvre that he actually painted. fettered imagination operating in de- concoctions fell from view. The Piranesi pieces, however, are not fiance of what he felt to be a growing Piranesi was a native Venetian, and facsimiles of objects that exist elsewhere: tyranny of theory. The end result is a while Venice may seem a city primarily they are new three-dimensional realiza- group of objects that merge new tech- intent on pickling its past in ever prettier tions of Piranesi etchings. The objects nology and ancient craft skills. jars, the Cini Foundation has been at- portrayed in the etchings were rendered in This ‘tyranny of theory’ refers to a tempting something more interesting and three dimensions through a combination particular conception of the Graeco- more difficult: from its picture-perfect of 3D scanning and 3D modelling tools Roman debate, which used Platonic perch on the island of San Giorgio Mag- such as Zbrush; the data was then used to ideas to support the supremacy of giore, it has been working to bring the create three-dimensional models through Greek sculpture and architecture as an past into productive proximity with the routing or stereolithographic printing; embodiment of a single, pure, abstract- present. This has entailed some uncon- these models were used to create molds for ed truth. (I believe our current under- ventional thinking about authenticity bronze, silver, or cast stone before being standing of originality suffers from the and cultural heritage. In 2003, the Foun- assembled and finished in ways that have same theoretical shortcomings.) For dation collaborated with the Louvre and not much changed since Piranesi’s time. Piranesi this reductive approach was Madrid-based fabricators Factum Arte The idea to produce objects based on the anathema, and he vigorously asserted on a hyper-accurate 1:1 facsimile of Paolo prints came from Pasquale Gagliardi, the that its over-simplification misrepre- Veronese’s Wedding at Cana, which they secretary general of the Cini Foundation, sented the achievements of the Ro- installed in place of the one looted from which holds a substantial Piranesi col- mans and, by extension, the creative San Giorgio by Napoleon in 1797. Though lection. Gagliardi likes to quote Mahler’s urge itself. Piranesi’s famous phrase,

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“Col sporcar si trova” can be translated what he saw as the creative fertility of hand and plaster casts of well-known as ‘by messing about, one discovers.’ Roman antiquity by freely combining Roman, Greek and Etruscan statues. ‘Messing about’ suggests excess and un- motifs from the past to produce works These elements were integrated and directed play, as well as an acceptance of striking originality, advocating con- reworked to create a coherent digital of the tolerance required for any sys- noisseurship and ‘improvement’ over matrix, from which three-dimensional tem to work. Dirt, disorder, serendipity slavish imitation of an original. objects were printed in resin using the and noise are all intrinsic to the process To make the Isis Tripod, a team of process of stereolithography.2 At one of imaginative interpretation. These el- digital modellers worked to breathe life moment things existed in a virtual ements are inherent in physical touch into Piranesi’s complex and contradic- realm, mathematically pure and theo- and in the act of making tory designs with a range of 3D mod- retically perfect—at the next they had The selection of objects to produce elling software. Their work was then been mediated, transformed and re- was made by Michele De Lucchi, the elaborated with forms that had been turned to the physical and messy world Piranesi specialist John Wilton-Ely scanned from existing objects, includ- of material objects. The resin object and myself, working from De Lucchi’s ing details of Piranesi’s design made by was not an end in itself, but part of a conviction that Piranesi should have been born 300 years later, when he would have been capable of exploiting all the technological potential that we have. Most were selected from Diverse maniere, Piranesi’s catalogue of new designs for fireplaces, furniture and decorative objects; three were selected from Vasi, candelabri..., a collection of antique object portraits by Piranesi.

The Isis Tripod from Vasi, candelabri… (Wilton-Ely 929)

iranesi’s etching is based on a tri- P pod from the 1st or 2nd century AD said to have been discovered in the temple of Isis in Pompeii in the 1760s. His model, however, was not the tripod itself (now in the Museo Nazionale in Naples), but rather a drawing from Vin- cenzo Brenna’s 1770 survey of Roman relics. Brenna’s conception of antiquity was a theatrical one, and this tripod is a clear example of the Roman aesthetic of appropriating influences. Piranesi’s design differs in subtle but significant ways from the Pompeii tripod: his pro- portions are more vertical, the position of the sphinx/harpy is altered, the three legs are not joined by a central bar, the pedestal is composed of two intersect- ing arcs, the frieze of skulls and garlands has been ‘improved.’ His approach to antiquity was more imaginative than the restrained recording and ‘objec- tive’ restoration that is common practice today. In Diverse maniere, Piranesi urged the modern designer to emulate Fig. 1c. Detail of bronze “Isis” tripod with silver patination and alabaster. 2010, after Piranesi.

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in terms both of theory and practice. Written in English, French and Italian to reach an international audience, it provided a clear statement of his radi- cal aesthetic and an impressive collection of designs articulating his taste and interests. Chimneypieces domi- nate the first part, followed by - com modes, clocks, vases, side tables, small candelabra, coffee pots, chairs and a surprisingly large number of doors for sedan chairs and coaches. His fascina- tion with the way the past and present merge is evident everywhere, and he aired some remarkably original ideas on the stylization of natural forms in antiquity. The book calls for a coherent new system of design that combines a study of nature with all that is excellent in the past, whether it is Greek or Ro- man, Etruscan or Egyptian. Fig 1a. Bronze “Isis” Tripod with silver Fig 1b. Giambattista Piranesi, antique bronze While this publication exerted a patination and alabaster top, 2010, Tripod from Vasi, candelabri, cippi, tripodi, profound influence on the develop- 90 cm high lucerne, ed ornamenti antichi disegnati ed in- ment of taste and style in Europe into cisi dal Cav. Gio. Batt. Piranesi, 1778, etching the next century, it remains uncertain plate: 52.6 x 38.2 cm. chain of transformations: it was encap- how many of the actual designs in Di- sulated in silicon and cast in wax; the wax was encapsulated in plaster and burnt away allowing space for the liquid bronze. The cast bronze was then sandblasted, chased and finished before being subjected to heat and various pa- tinas from 19th century recipe books, including ‘dragon’s blood’ (a red resin that bleeds from a tree found on the Canary Islands.) Looking at the finished silver-patinat- ed bronze tripod is a viscerally strange experience. It addresses something fundamental about making, and the complex and messy language of things. My experience of this object, reputedly found in Pompeii, is through an image etched by Piranesi, a fulcrum with the antique tripod on one side and the contemporary realization on the other.

The Helix Tripod from Diverse maniere (Wilton-Ely 878)

Diverse maniere appeared at the end of the 1760s, the most significant and Fig. 2b. Helix Tripod, 2010, gold-plated bronze, Fig. 2c. Piranesi. Detail showing Tripod with productive decade in Piranesi’s career 90 cm x 32 cm, edition of 12. helix, 1769, etching.

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verse maniere were executed. Chim- neypieces were certainly made for the Earl of Exeter (Burghley House) and for John Hope, and various articles of furniture were made for Piranesi’s patron, Monsignor Giovambatista Rezzonico,3 including a pair of side tables now in the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Though the illustrations in Diverse maniere were designed to be clear enough to be taken to England or France to guide the fabrication of objects there, they are not exactly production designs. The drawing of this tripod, for example, conspicuously leaves out one of the legs in order that the complex detail on the central double helix can be clearly seen. The heads of the satyrs on each leg are cited as arche- types, as is much of the decorative pat- tern. Exact details of the fluted dish set into the top and of the floating barley- twist element in the centre are left un- resolved. Piranesi clearly assumed that any skilled artisan-modeler would be able to improvise around the theme to produce a harmonious result. But when Fig. 3a. we compare the etchings with objects Chimneypiece, 2010, white marble scagliola, 150 cm x 214 cm, and Fire Grate, 2010, also after Piranesi, iron. like the Rezzonico side tables, it is clear that the fineness and complexity of Pi- ranesi’s decorations have been signifi- Chimneypiece and tian style. Emulating what he identified cantly simplified by the craftsmen who Cast-Iron Fire Grate from as the Roman approach, he merged carved them. Fortunately, with digital Diverse maniere (Wilton-Ely 824, 842) Egyptian and Etruscan elements with technologies an object can be modeled Roman antiquity and the Renaissance. and then rescaled to produce levels of n Diverse maniere Piranesi gave parti- Although he was an astute business- detail that would have been displayed I ticular prominence to chimney- man and a respected connoisseur of in a cabinet of wonders in Piranesi’s pieces, an interior feature with no the Classical world, Piranesi was also day, as an example of manual dexter- precedent in antiquity. As there was ‘perfettissimo matto in tutti’—the most ity or perversion. Digital modeling and little design history to respect and no perfect madman in everything4—and 3D output methods make possible an function to fulfil other than provid- responses to his work were sharply di- ‘idealised perfection’ that the grain of ing a mantelpiece and embellishing a vided. The academic painter James Bar- wood and stone, or the physical prop- fire opening, the chimneypiece- dem ry (1741–1806) was a fierce critic, object- erties of clay, constantly resist. onstrated the imaginative application ing to capitals carved ‘in so fantastic a In this tripod Piranesi continually of the past to a strictly contemporary manner with so little of the true forms added layers of decoration of dimin- requirement. (Moreover, as Piranesi remaining, that they serve indifferently ishing scale, doubtless something he astutely observed in the inscription for all kinds of things, and are with ease learnt from his close study of nature on one of the plates (Wilton-Ely 867), converted into candelabra, chimney- and shells, mixed with his native Ve- the chimneypiece was a particularly pieces, and what not. Examples of this netian sensibility. He found elegance, important focus for ornamentation in kind of trash may be seen in abundance not in reductive simplicity, but in the England). Of the designs featured in Di- in the collections of Piranesi’.5 But language of organic decoration and the verse maniere, sixty-one are designs for Horace Walpole, ever the Romantic, poetic reverberations it stimulates. fireplaces, eleven in a flamboyant Egyp- enthused about “the sublime dreams of

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Throughout, the idealised is merged with the real. Two cameos in the centre of the fireplace, indicated in Piranesi’s print only by a few sketchy lines, have been replaced with a 3D scan of a coin minted as a bit of Reformation propa- ganda. A topsy-turvy pope/devil head makes an oblique reference to the role of coins in bridging the conceptual gulf between sculpture and printmaking. Though Piranesi specified the material as white marble, the complexity of the forms, the undercuts, and the frag- ile garlands of leaves, meant that carv- ing in marble was impractical if not impossible. We concluded that the best option was to make the mantlepiece 4a. Altar. Bronze and porphyry scagliola, 2010, from marble, and the chimneypiece 90 x 74 cm, edition of 12. from scagliola, an imitation marble that dimensional contemporary objects in can be cast as well as carved, and which Fig 3b. Piranesi, Chimneypiece design from the 21st century, questions of taste are Diverse maniere d’adornare i cammini ed ogni had been used extensively in Piranesi’s always present. Working on this non- altra parte degli edifizi, 1769, etching, 50 cm x time (scagliola columns, walls and ob- utilitarian object, it seemed easy to 38.4 cm jects fill many of the great neo-classical stray into the territory of a Hollywood houses of the 18th and early 19th cen- film or vulgar neo-classical excess. The Piranesi, who seems to have conceived turies.) Scagliola feels, looks and even wings, central column and the oval visions of Rome beyond what it boasted smells like marble. To complement the base were re-worked several times: even in the meridian of its splendour… fireplace, a suitably understated set of sometimes it was the general shape what taste in his boldness! What gran- fire furniture was selected from the that seemed unconvincing, at other deur in his wildness! What labour and many examples in the Diverse maniere times the detail and character of the thought both in his rashness and de- and made in cast iron and waterjet-cut tails!’6 steel. We attempted to follow Piranesi’s lead, maintaining a playful incorpora- Porphyry and Bronze Altar tion of references while developing a from Vasi, candelabri… new visual language utilizing the full (Wilton-Ely 916, 917) palette of tools now at our disposal: the faces of the angels at the top of the Scagliola was also used to make part chimney-piece are based on Iberian, of this altar, a strange, functionless ob- Roman and Greek ideals, while the ject when Piranesi etched it in the 18th two Medusa heads at the bottom come century, but one that again allowed from 3D scans of real faces, used in raw him to play with the interaction of past form, complete with all the ‘artifacts’ and present. This was the only object (technical or equipment errors) of the in which we departed entirely from the scanning process. The cornucopias in- material description included in Pira- corporate a mix of organic computer nesi’s print, but as Piranesi was the first modeling and 3D scans of actual fruit. to ‘improve’ the classical designs he was The sheep’s heads at each corner were re-presenting, the rejection of white modeled on the basis of their similar- marble and the use of scagliola and ity to a Border Leicester sheep with its bronze seemed unproblematic. The characteristic arched nose. The horns decision was partly practical, as with Fig 4b. of a number of breeds were closely the fireplace, but it was also aesthetic. Piranesi, Antique marble Altar in the form of a tripod from Hadrian’s Villa in the studied and a stylized horn form was When interpreting two-dimensional collection of Piranesi from Vasi, candelabri,..., derived to match Piranesi’s print. designs from the 18th century as three- 1778, etching, 52.5 x 38.5 cm.

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rative use of nature as an ornament, a fault he attributed to the Greeks: It could truthfully be said that no shrub nor tree exists from which they have not borrowed little stems or fronds to embellish their architecture… [I] think it necessary to con- sider whether placing such things on cornices, friezes, or architraves is any more natural than, for example (as Horace says), painting a cypress tree in the midst of the sea when depict- ing a shipwreck.7

Fig 5b. Coffee Pot, 2010, silver, 25 cm high, Fig 5a. Piranesi, detail showing Coffee Pot, edition of 12. 1769, etching. Piranesi designed the spout in the form of a bee, but it was necessary to re- modeling. Throughout the process the Rome for visitors on the Grand Tour. position the bee to produce a working form and the material seemed to be in (The only record of these paintings lies spout. A modification was also made to conflict. Finally, bronze legs supporting in Diverse maniere, where they appear the lid so that it stays in place when the a porphyry bowl felt right. Sebastian alongside a series of elaborate Egyp- pot is being used. We tested several fab- Beyro produced many different mixes tian-style fireplaces.) rication processes, from manual beat- of the scagliola ‘porphyry’ before we This coffee pot appears in Diverse ing and chasing to electro-forming, but chose a deep purple/red base color with maniere, which is subtitled ‘Apologia in the final solution was to sub-divide the fine irregular white chips and a few Defence of the Egyptian and Tuscan Ar- digital model into discrete sections that specks of grey and black. Elena Arias, chitecture,’ and which includes two dia- were stereo-lithographically printed. a conservator of metal objects at the grams showing the influence of shell These printed sections, complete with Museo del Prado, helped with the pa- forms upon Etruscan vase designs. The all the artifacts of the process, were tinas of the bronze in a range of tones coffee pot itself reveals a close study of then silicon mounded, cast in silver, from silver to black via some coppery how natural forms evolve. Piranesi was soldered together, silver-plated, pol- greens. dismissive of the illustrative and deco- ished and finally finished by hand with

Silver Coffee Pot from Diverse maniere (Wilton-Ely 878)

offee offered Piranesi the perfect C vehicle to address the compli- cated issue of taste. When coffee drink- ing spread to Europe in the late 16th century, Pope Clement VIII (1536–1605) was asked to ban it as an infidel threat also associated with sodomy, but on tasting it he declared it was too deli- cious to be left to the unfaithful. The longest running coffee house in Italy, Caffè Florian opened in Venice in 1720, the city and year of Piranesi’s birth. In Rome, Caffè Greco opened in 1760 and lists Piranesi, Goethe, Stendhal, Byron and Keats among its visitors. Caffè De- gli Inglesi opened a few years later with wall paintings by Piranesi. Located at the foot of the Spanish Steps, it became the most important meeting place in Fig 5c. Detail of digital modelling of teapot. 2010.

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usage from the past and inspired by nature:

Must the genius of our artists be so basely enslaved to the Grecian man- ners, as not to dare to take what is beautiful elsewhere, if it be not of Grecian origin? But let us shake off this shameful yoke, and if the Egyp- tians, and Tuscans present to us, in their monuments, beauty, grace and elegance, let us borrow from their stock, … an artist, who would do himself honour, and acquire a name, must not content himself with copy- Fig 6a. Fig 6b. Swan-Neck Chair, 2010, under con- Piranesi, Chair. ing faithfully the ancients, but study- struction. The final material will be artificial wood, gesso and gold gilt, 115 x 85 x 73 cm. ing their works he ought to show himself of an inventive, and, I had some subtle patination. tury, was clearly conceived in Piranesi’s almost said, of a creating Genius…8 The movement in the body of the workshop in Rome. The twist of the pot from a natural shell to stylized swan necks—eloquent and gentle from Candelabrum with Lion and ridging is a movement from direct quo- one angle, aggressive and attacking Bulls‘ Heads from Vasi, candelabri… tation of natural form to a high level from another—seems an apt reflection (Wilton-Ely 912) of abstraction. The subtle shift to the of Piranesi’s own character. treatment of the handle almost prefig- Towards the close of his essay in he debate that dominated design ures art deco design—with small sim- Diverse maniere, Piranesi makes a final T and architecture in Rome in the plifications this handle could belong to plea for a new system of design, uncon- 1760s is surprisingly like the modernist Christopher Dresser (1834–1904)—yet strained by doctrine, but sanctioned by discourse of the 20th century. Piranesi it sits comfortably on an object designed in the mid-18th century.

Swan-Neck Chair from Diverse maniere (Wilton-Ely 878)

iranesi’s approach, caught between P Venetian caprice and Roman im- perial splendor, had a profound influence on future generations of artists, architects, designers, decorators and even film-makers. This eccentric chair is representative of his wildly imaginative incorporation of elements and of his ability to move beyond issues of national or cultural identity to merge the wealth of influences that made Rome the extraordinary, fertile place it was. Unlike the other objects here, this chair was completely modeled by hand by Juan Carlos Arias, over the course of months. The final result, cast in a resin used to restore wooden furniture, was gesso coated and water-gilded. The Fig 7a. Candelabrum, 2010, resin and marble Fig 7b. Piranesi, Candelabrum from Vasi, chair, made in Madrid in the 21st cen- dust, 220 x 70 x 70 cm. candelabri… 1778, etching, 72.5 x 48.4 cm.

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tackled cries of ‘less is more’ and calls posed of antique fragments mixed with call of leading patrons on the Grand for a reductive simplicity. He argued modern additions, which is now in the Tour: Sir William Hamilton, Sir Roger for an inspirational response to the ac- Musée du Louvre (Wilton-Ely 1002). Newdigate, Charles Townley all came cumulation of cultural sources, and for to call. So, in all probability, did Goethe dynamic design that would reflect the Vase with with Three Three Griffin Griffin Heads Heads from from and Goya. From his Palazzo, Piranesi needs and capabilities of the time. His Vasi, candelabri…candelabri… (Wilton-Ely (Wilton-Ely 951) 951) was active in the thriving Roman trade view of antiquity as a living and revital- of restoring and selling classical antiq- ising force is evident in the way he re- uities, and was well recognised for his sponded to the fragments he excavated lthough it carries a dedication expertise. In 1757 Piranesi was made an and reconstructed. He was happy to de- A to collector Richard Dalton honorary member of the newly formed velop images, like the Vedute di Roma, (1713?–91) there is no evidence that this London Society of Antiquaries, and that stimulated the romantic interest vase existed in any form other than Pi- his own collection of antiquities was in decay (prefiguring the Romantic cry ranesi’s print. Dalton’s collection was substantial. John Wilton-Ely reports that there is one thing more beautiful broken up at his death and, although “when Gustav III of Sweden made a than a beautiful thing, and that is the it seems likely that several of his pieces belated Grand Tour in 1783 he visited ruin of a beautiful thing). But his deep had been acquired from Piranesi, there Palazzo Tomati and purchased from study of the remains of antiquity led to is no clear reference to this vast piece. Francesco, Piranesi’s son, a large part his desire to restore, reinterpret and re- We based the size of this re-creation on of the remaining antiquities, especially present those objects. another large marble vase reproduced those works which were too fanciful or It is unknown to what extent this in Vasi, candelabri… which is now in the bizarre for earlier clients and these are candelabrum was a new design by Pi- courtyard of the church of Santa Ceci- now in Stockholm.”9 ranesi or a copy after the antique. From lia in Trastevere in Rome. (Wilton-Ely The protocols of ‘restoration’ at similar candelabra such as the one in 922) the time were flexible, as can be seen the collection of King Gustav III of Piranesi’s printing business and by Sir William Hamilton’s remarks on Sweden (Wilton-Ely 995), the Newdi- ‘museo’ were located in the Palazzo improving and reconstructing the frag- gate Candelabra in the Ashmolean Mu- Tomati in Via Sistina, conveniently ments that became the famous War- seum (Wilton-Ely 910 and 992), or the near the British Quarter of the Piazza wick Vase: “I was obliged to cut a block marble candelabrum from the Jenkins di Spagna. Visitors there formed a roll- of marble at Carrara to repair it, which collection, now in the Vatican (Wilton- Ely 935), it is safe to assume that what- ever its classical pedigree might be, significant interventions were made to perfect the object for a connoisseur’s taste. The two Newdigate candelabra are known to have been heavily ‘reworked.’ Piranesi loved to experiment, ven- turing beyond the bounds of conventional taste, and in his treatment of antique fragments he was unable to control his desire to improve and restore. The fireplace gave him a ‘facade’ to decorate, but the candelabrum gave him four facets with infinite room for variation. He played with repetitive elements while introducing novel ways to break the symmetry of the form. On this complex ‘canvas’ he could in- troduce references to poetry and the arts, while also dealing with the pass- ing of time and the transitory nature Fig 8a. Vase with Three Griffin Heads,2010, Fig 8b. Piranesi, Antique marble Vase of human life. He made a candelabrum gypsum, 220 x 150 cm. decorated with griffin heads from Vasi, cande- for his own funerary monument, com- labri… 1778, etching, 38.8 x 25.5 cm.

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has been hollowed out & the fragments is by everything that does not change version can ever contain. This desire to fixed on it, by which means the vase from day to day—were gracefully to fix originality is fuelled by archaeology is as firm & entire as the day it was accept your monotony; what would (searching for the source), and by mar- made.”10 From his involvement in the architecture then become? A low trade, keting (promoting the unique), and has re-fabrication of the Warwick Vase and in which one would do nothing but grown in the past century in response other antiquities, we can conclude that copy.”11 to the proliferation of cheap printed Piranesi, deeply engaged in learning Piranesi’s ambition was never to copies and a media-fueled obsession from and understanding the antique copy but rather to exceed the extraor- with financial value. At Factum Arte creative mind, viewed originality as a dinary artifacts being discovered all we depend on artisans, both digital and process rather than a state of being. around the Mediterranean. His riposte physical, who share a common interest: to Mariette at times adopts a proto- to make things articulate and to enjoy IN CONCLUSION Ruskinian tone about the integrity of the possibilities that emerge when the manual labour, and hints at the intel- ‘social life’ of an object is given more n his response to Pierre-Jean Mariette lectual bankruptcy of a privileged class weight than conventional definitions I (1697–1774), a print dealer and col- for whom culture is a tasteful endgame of authenticity and originality. We lector who adhered to Johann Joachim of connoisseurship and ownership. believe the originality of an object be- Winckelmann’s belief in the superiority Our age, like Piranesi’s, is obsessed longs in the conversations that happen of a “pure” Greek style, Piranesi cham- with ‘originality.’ Now, as then, the as it is being made, and the way those pioned artistic freedom: “Let us imag- original is thought to possess an ‘aura’, conversations condition the character ine that the world—sickened though it a mystical quality that no second-hand of the finished object. If you can read

Fig 8a. Vase with Three Griffin Heads,gypsum, 220 x 150 cm. 2010.

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back and grasp these conversations, the Notes: Introduction and Progress of the Fine Arts in Eu- object becomes articulate. Today’s tools 1. Diverse maniere d’adornare i cammini ed ogni rope in Ancient Times. Introduction by J. Wilton- and technologies help us to see more, altra parte degli edifizi desunte dall’architettura Ely. Translation by C. Beamish and D. Britt. Los and to see differently, at every stage Egizia, Etrusca, e Greca con un Ragionamento Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, 2002. Apologetico in defesa dell’Architettura Egizia, e 8. “The Apologetical Essay,” Diverse maniere. of recording, making, studying and Toscana, opera del Cavaliere Giambattista Pi- 9. Email correspondence with the author. understanding. But before an object ranesi Architetto, Rome: 1769, and Vasi, can- 10. A. Morrison, The Hamilton and Nelson Pa- speaks to us, we need to ask it the right delabri, cippi, sarcofagi, tripodi, lucerne, ed or- pers, (1893–94) no. 53, noted by Nancy H. questions and listen to its answers. If namenti antichi disegnati ed incisi dal Cav. Gio. Ramage, “Sir William Hamilton as Collector, Batt. Piranesi, Rome: 1778. Exporter, and Dealer: The Acquisition and Dis- we don’t, it stays mute. 2. In stereolithographic printing, the digital file persal of His Collections,” American Journal of It has taken three centuries of mu- divides the shape into very thin slices; a laser Archaeology 94.3 (July 1990:469–480) seum culture to turn rich and varied then draws the outline of a ‘slice’ on a thin layer 11. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Observations on of light-cured liquid polymer; the polymer hard- the letter of Monsieur Mariette, Opinions on Ar- ‘subjects’ into discrete ‘objects’ located ens where it was hit by the laser; then a new thin chitecture, and Preface to a New Treatise on the in a specific time and attributed to a layer of polymer washes over the surface, the Introduction and Progress of the Fine Arts in Eu- specific hand. In the 18th century Pira- laser outlines the next slice, and so on. rope in Ancient Times. Introduction by J. Wilton- nesi resisted this already emerging ten- 3 Piranesi dedicated Diverse maniere to Ely. Translation by C. Beamish and D. Britt. Los Monsignor Rezzonico, who was Grand Prior Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, 2002. dency, and asserted the importance of of the Order of Malta and Maggiordomo to his looking in depth into the complex and uncle, Pope Clement XIII. The Rezzonicos revealing biography of things. were important patrons for Piranesi: rich Ve- Adam Lowe is an artist living and working in netians who had bought ‘patents of nobility’ in Madrid, where he is Director of Factum Arte, How would Piranesi respond to the seventeenth century, the Rezzonico family a workshop dedicated to bridging the divide these new objects made from his de- gave Piranesi opportunities, financial backing between technology and craft skills. signs? Would he be effusive, passion- and confidence. Carlo Rezzonico (1693–1769), ate and ‘a complete madman in every- became Bishop of Padua in 1743, and was elected Pope Clement XIII in 1758. Clement XIII thing’? Would he be shocked that, for was known for honesty, piety, and modesty (fa- a period of time, each of the objects mously adorning the sculptures in the Vatican existed only as a virtual form in a com- with mass-produced fig leaves). As an unworld- ly man from new money, he needed Venetian puter’s memory displayed ephemerally support that he could trust in the complex po- on a screen? That only once this digi- litical environment of Rome, and he appointed tal data was used to control a laser that his nephews, Giovambatista and Abbondio gradually moved and hardened a tank- Rezzonico to positions of influence. Their natural choice for a designer was the Venetian Pi- full of resin, would the objects assume ranesi, with his unlimited ambition, imaginative anything resembling a physical pres- fertility and original ideas about architecture and ence? design. They commissioned him to design do- mestic interiors and furnishings for Castelgan- Piranesi was capricious and cel- dolfo, the Quirinal (at that time the Papal resi- ebrated it. I can see some of his limita- dence), and the Campidoglio, and to design the tions, but I admire the way he fought reconstruction of the Lateran Basilica. This last the revisionist reading of antiquity and commission was later abandoned, and Pope Clement XIII gave Piranesi a knighthood (the the Renaissance projected by aestheti- Sperone d’Oro, 1767), perhaps to compensate cally motivated scholars in the mid- for his disappointment. 18th century. I celebrate the extraor- Abbondio Rezzonico (1741–1810) was Sena- tor of Rome, and hired Piranesi to transform dinary generosity with which Piranesi the Senatorial Palace on the Capitoline Hill into shared his ideas and passions. Hopeful- a magnificent residence. He also kept the gilt- ly the objects we have made in Madrid framed drawings of the Lateran project to line keep his ideas alive and active. the walls of the corridor, stimulating the imagination of many visitors including Goethe. 4. From a letter of the architect Carlo Vanvitelli Each object carries the stamp of the Fondazi- (1739-1821) cited in B. Sørensen, Two over- one Giorgio Cini, Factum Arte and a ‘Piranesi’ looked drawings by Piranesi for S. Giovanni stamp. The Coffee Pot (€30,000), Altar, and two in Laterano in Rome,in: BM. CXLIII, 2001, S. Tripods (€50,000 each) have been produced in 430–33. an edition of 12; all other objects are made to 5. From a letter by Barry to Edmund Burke, writ- order. Proceeds will be used to finance future ten 22 May 1768 in Rome, collected in Fryer, exhibitions at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice. Works of Barry, i. 123-34. The objects can be viewed by appointment at 6. Writing about the designs of Robert Adam in the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice and Fac- his Anecdotes on Painting (1780 edition) tum Arte, Madrid. A travelling exhibition is in the 7. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Observations on planning stages, through Exhibitions Develop- the letter of Monsieur Mariette, Opinions on Ar- ment Group (EDG). chitecture, and Preface to a New Treatise on the