View along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part I

View along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part I

Giovanni Battista Piranesi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Piranesi arrived in Rome in 1740 and quickly perceived the demand for views of the city. By 1748, he had produced the first of 135 etchings of classical and Baroque Rome, the 'Vedute di Roma' (Views of Rome). The series evolved over the remaining three decades of his career. This view of the Palazzo Mancini (the seat of the French Academy since 1725), emphasizes the dramatic perspective of the Corso and reveals Piranesi's interest in the topography as well as in contemporary urban life.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

View along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part IView along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part IView along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part IView along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part IView along the Via del Corso of the Palazzo dell'Accademia, established by Louis XIV, King of France for French students of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture..., from "Vedute di Roma" (Views of Rome), part I

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.