Piranesi, The Roman Forum

View of the Roman Forum, Piranesi

This Piranesi print shows a view of the Roman Forum. In the Eighteenth Century when the print was made,, the forum was largely used as a field to pasture cows. The point of view of this piece is facing the Arch of Titus. Many Ancient Roman monuments can be seen including the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and the Temple of Castor. The composition of the scene involves many techniques that Piranesi typically used. The shading of buildings that are close together is much darker than the buildings that are far away, in order to give a sense of depth to the scene. Additionally Piranesi uses orthogonal lines along which the rows of trees and buildings are placed in order to make the center point of this print, the Arch of Titus, appear farther back. Piranesi depicts in this scene a variety of different figures; Many attend to livestock that are being pastured in the Forum. These figures are likely included both in order to be realistic to the scene as it appeared at that time, and in part to show scale, however it is worth noting that it emphasizes the way that the Forum was a place of public use as much in the 1700s as it was in the time of the Romans.

EH

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