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Carceri D'Invenzione - print 11, second edition This intaglio print was made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in the 1760’s. It was the eleventh in a series of fourteen, entitled ‘Carceri D’invenzione’, or ‘Prison of Creation’. Piranesi had much archite ....

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.... not only on the succeeding art of the Middle Ages, but on this Renaissance and baroque period as well. John Welton-Ely, in The Mind and the Art of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, went one step further in suggesting the Carceri was ...a gesture of defiance to the partons and architects of Rome who had failed to measure up to the creative possibilities suggested by the ‘speaking ruins’ surrounding them. This particular print is an excellent example of the etching method. It represents an intensely private work, far ahead of its time in the usage of dramatic design elements. The most relied on element is that of perspective. The walls and stairs ....