The Medici Vase is known to have been at the Villa Medici in Rome by 1598, first appearing in the inventory of the Medici collection that century. This particular etching was dedicated to His Excellency, Signor General Schouvaloff, the Russian connoisseur, although unfortunately the text is missing from this example. They also bore dedications to Piranesi’s patrons and influential friends. The printing plates Piranesi produced included text with information on the circumstances of discovery of each object and their contemporary location. Iphigenia is flanked by the figures of Ulysses and Agamemnon. ![]() The vase is believed to have been made about AD 50 to 100 and shows in carved relief the sacrifice of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. It shows a Greek marble vase decorated with bas-reliefs, known as the ‘Medici Vase’ (which is now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence). The print is from a series of etchings Piranesi made whilst documenting antiquities excavated in Italy in the 18th century. Piranesi, pubblicati l’anno MDCCLXXIIX, showing a vase representing the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. Plate 54 from Piranesi’s suite entitled Vasi, Candelabri, Cippi, Sarcofagi, Tripodi, Lucerne, Ed Ornamenti Antichi Disegn Ed Inc Dal Cav. Piranesi is well-represented in the V&A’s Prints collection and I am pleased to say that this key print will be featuring in the Europe Galleries, as part of our display on Neoclassicism. However, Piranesi did not limit himself to simply recording and replicating designs, his imagination and creativity also led him to break conventional rules of design and he became equally renowned for his images of fictitious monuments and architecture. He settled in Rome in 1740 and came to establish himself as a well-known figure, producing a vast number of etchings illustrating Roman architecture and antiquities and designing replica Roman objects for the Grand Tour tourist trade. Venetian by birth, Piranesi was the son of a mason and master builder and had a wide ranging training in architecture, stage design and perspective composition. Underneath the stone there are several classical motifs, including an armoured soldier, a city plan of Rome, and Roman vases. The portrait is a copy of a self-portrait by Piranesi, copied by his son for this volume. It depicts an ancient stone, with a cameo portrait of Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the centre. “I need to produce great ideas, and I believe that if I were commissioned to design a new universe, I would be mad enough to undertake it.” This engraving forms the title page of a volume. One of his early biographers reported him as saying: He produced a vast amount of work in his lifetime, with an obvious enthusiasm for creating intricate, detailed images and designs. ![]() ![]() Piranesi is regarded by many as one of the greatest Italian printmakers of the 18 th century. The work of architect and printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) helped to pioneer this rediscovery of Roman remains and he was one of the leading figures in the development of the Neoclassical style. In the late-18th and early-19th centuries, increased travel and archaeological discoveries, at sites such as Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy, led to a revival of interest in ancient and classical decoration.
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