DESCRIPTION: Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian, 1720-1778). Etching of the Piazza Navona on cotton paper. Entitled "Veduta di Piazza Navona Sopra La Rovine Del Circo Agonale". Major landmarks noted along lower edge. Printed by Bouchard & Gravier. In two-tone painted frame with desaturated brown matboard and marble-like border. Piranesi was a major Italian printmaker, architect and antiquarian. The son of a Venetian master builder, he studied architecture and stage design, through which he became familiar with Illusionism. During a visit to Rome, which was then emerging as the center of European Neoclassicism, Piranesi began his lifelong obsession with the visual diversity of the city's architecture. He was taught etching, the art form for which he remains best known, by Giuseppe Vasi. Piranesi then began to etch views of Roman architecture that reflected his deeply felt emotional response to the surviving remnants of ancient grandeur. Piranesi's etchings were executed from the 1740s onward. MEASUREMENTS: 22-1/4" x 16-1/2". Overall with frame: 35" x 27-3/4". CONDITION: Apparent spotting and foxing to surface consistent with age. Faint, discolored fold line in center. Minor wear and abrasions to surface of frame. Laid down.