MADI THESIS X

THE VIEWS OF ROME BY PIRANESI

The thesis aims to give life to some engravings taken from the collection of the "Views of Rome" by Giovanni Battista Piranesi , who wanted to fix the eighteenth-century city in every aspect, representing the grandeur of the historic buildings that emerge from the ruins and from the context through perspective distortions and strong chiaroscuro effects, in order to arrive at a sublime feeling of grandeur of the ancient past.

Thesis available in the IUAV Projects Archive

MADI - 2nd level university master in IUAV Digital Architecture

FRONT SPICE

First page of the collection of incusions "Views of Rome".
Plate with high relief with writing "Views of Rome designed and engraved by Giambattista Piranesi Venetian Architect", surrounded by Roman ruins infested with vegetation.

ARCH OF TITUS

View of the Triumphant Arch fornix (single arch) in Forum of Rome on the northern slopes of the Palatine Hill. It denotes how the subject is isolated from the context with strong chiaroscuro effects, using light strokes to direct the observer's attention.

3 - ARCO DI TITO CONTROCAMPO Tesi MADI X

ARCO DI TITO COUNTERFIELD

In the Controcampo dell'Arco di Tito the accelerated and distorted perspective inside Piranesi's engravings is highlighted.
In fact, the Arch, placed as a subject in the foreground, possesses different perspective lines with respect to the context, thus standing out among the surrounding buildings and resulting almost three times larger than real measurements, all reinforced by the desolate atmosphere and dramatic tones.

EXTERNAL PANTHEON

Symbol of ancient Rome, the Pantheon is located in the Pigna district in the historic center. The modeling was strongly distorted to achieve the same perspective present in the engraving, in fact the pediment is not perpendicular to the body of the structure, but realizes an angle of 130 degrees approx. and the edge is scaled to reproduce the accelerated perspective.

INTERNAL PANTHEON

To reproduce the interior of the Pantheon with the same perspective as the engravings it was necessary to deform the plant from circular to a crushed egg shape, thus creating this effect of grandeur.

TEMPLE OF THE GOD CANOPUS

The Temple of the God Canopus, located in the Villa Adriana in Tivoli, presents remains of niches and white mosaics, to highlight the importance of the Piranesi ruins he placed two pieces of the dome in the foreground. Implementing the accelerated perspective of the corridor required it to be scaled and distorted.

THERMAL BATHS OF VILLA ADRIANA

The modeling of the ruins of the Baths of Villa Adriana required a meticulous work of subtraction of volumes and modeling of details. In this scene the subject is reversed, in fact now it is the ruin that is at the center of the image, surrounded by the architectural remains infested by the surrounding vegetation.

“When I realized that in Rome most of the ancient monuments lay abandoned in fields or gardens, or served as quarries for new constructions, I decided to preserve their memory with my engravings.

I therefore tried to put the greatest possible accuracy into it. "

(Giovanni Battista Piranesi )

Video subtitle

MADI Thesis X: The Views of Rome by Piranesi . Paolo Carratta - Alessia Rambuschi