The Roman antiquities, t. 1, Plate XL 1756

Giovanni Battista Piranesi made this etching, "The Roman Antiquities," sometime before 1778. He used a metal plate and acid to create this intricate image, a process demanding planning, precision, and intense labor. Look closely, and you'll see a plan and cross-section of the Baths of Caracalla, a monumental public bath complex built in ancient Rome. Piranesi masterfully employs line work to convey the bath's scale and architectural details, differentiating between extant remains and his imagined reconstructions. Notice how the contrasting line weights convey depth and shadow, giving the etching a sense of three-dimensionality. Piranesi was not just an artist, but an archaeologist, historian, and architect who was interested in classical antiquity. With prints like this, Piranesi wasn't merely documenting history; he was participating in the era's debate about the nature of classicism. Ultimately, this print encourages us to consider how images, like buildings, are constructed, circulated, and imbued with meaning through the labor of making.